Adventures Abound: Into the Mists
by dharak
Summary: When the Helluva Mercenaries go to Pandaria via pirate ship, they hoped to have a good time in a unspoiled land. Predictably, their jobs get them involved in either plots made by the land's old enemies or into incredibly ridiculous situations. But for this mercenary group, this is practically the norm. Read as their adventures through Pandaria begin and continue :)
1. Ep1, part 1-Boarding the Runningwind

**Hey all, back with Adventures Abound sequel :P **

**PLS Note-**

**Unlike Adventures Abound, this will be more of a drabblish kind of fic. Basically one or two chapters will form a mini story (the first mini story of how they get to panderia may be three chapters long). Then the next one or two will do the same thing, basically following the group's journeys in Pandaria.**

**Some readers may encounter characters they've never seen before. Lastraza joins the group in my fic 'A Death Knight's Story,' and Stormwing at the end of 'Adventures Abound.' Imyra joins her sister in travel in the aftermath of the Cataclysm.**

**Anyway, on with the story :D**

Emala, arms crossed, was standing on one of the wooden docks in Ratchet. She seemed to be waiting for something, staring out at the sea.

Her lean frame was covered in comfortable brown leather armor, her black hair blowing loose in the salty sea wind. The tauren's fur was a lighter black than her hair. Her helm was in her pack, as there was no need to wear it. She bore a scar on her lower jaw, a long one on her arm, and one over her left eye. Both of her eyes were a deep, penetrating green. A longbow and a quiver of arrows were slung over her back, and a pair of glaives hung from the right side of her belt-replacements for her ancient one handed sword that had finally broken after years. If anything, though, she had found the glaives were far more suited for her. Despite that, Emala kept the broken sword out of respect back at her home in Mulgore, even though she was rarely there.

Her red raptor, Pierceclaw, had long fallen asleep. He was curled on the surface of the dock, his red scales gleaming in the light of the sun.

The hunter had received word a day ago that a ship neither alined with Alliance or Horde would be leaving the port a day before any other vessels. It was reportedly a pirate ship, and manned by strange humanoids that refused to admit their place of origin. Most of Ratchet's locals suspected they came from some far off corner of Azeroth, but none had been able to dig up certain information to confirm it.

The pirates had supposedly arrived in Ratchet not too long ago, and spread the news that they were offering passage to the newly discovered land of Panderia. The pirates had also announced that they could only take a limited amount of people. Emala, like everyone else, had been rather stunned when she first heard that a off course merchant ship had sighted a landmass that matched the description of the mythological Panderia.

Emala didn't care that the ship she was waiting for was a pirate ship, or where it's crew came from. She had no problem working with shady beings. The hunter loved new places, and she enjoyed being the first-along with her companions-to explore unspoiled land. And as mercenaries, it meant that she and her group would be the first to grab jobs.

_Spoiled that land will be, _Emala thought with disgust, heaving a sigh. _When the pig Garrosh and that idiot Varian get their armies over there. I'd rather enjoy it without pointless bickering first. _

She had a long standing hate of Garrosh, one that made her view him as a foolish and unworthy leader. Her loyalty strongly laid with Thrall, the former Warchief. She still had a strong memory of a the time she had been in a bar with friends in Orgrimmar. A peon had entered, and gone to the first table by the door. Which by chance was where Emala had been sitting.

The peon had been there to find fighters for a errand of Garrosh's. When asked, Emala stated firmly that she would die before she became Hellscream's lapdog. The peon had backed away trembling when she threatened him to get him to leave, and run off to ask the other bar patrons. She knew that it had been risky to announce her opinion so publically, but so far her veteran status and loose affiliation with the Horde had been enough to keep her out of trouble with the Warchief.

"When the day comes that Hellscream dies, I'll welcome it," Emala grumbled aloud.

Her thought process was interrupted when the pounding of two pairs of feet sounded behind her on the wooden dock. She glanced over her shoulder to see two of her companions arriving. By her feet, Pierceclaw awakened with a snort from his nap.

One of the approaching figures was a young troll mage, with shaggy red hair that straggled over into his line of sight. It was kept from obscuring his vision by a black headband. The rest was tied in a ponytail on the back of his head. His eyes were slate gray, filled with youthful excitement. He was holding a bag in his hands, one that contained coins from the sound of the jingling resounding from inside.

The second being was a black haired blood elf in leather armor. But Emala and the rest of the companions knew what he really was. Along with Stormwing and Lastraza, Skydive was a drake, the only netherwing of the group.

He appeared just as bright eyed and excited as Zalleen. As the pair drew closer, though, Emala became aware of a stale beer smell drifting from them.

The hunter's eyes shot daggers as the troll mage and shapeshifted netherwing stopped before her, panting. "Have you two been drinking?" she demanded harshly.

Zalleen let out a tentative giggle. He draped one arm over Skydive's shoulder and leaned on his friend, who staggered slightly. Skydive then looked at Emala's infuriated face, blinked woozily, and gave her a lopsided smile. "It was just a little...and hours ago."

Emala threw her hands into the air in exasperation and began to pace on the pier in a frenzy. Pierceclaw stepped out of her way, mirroring his master's accusing glare with his yellow eyes. "You damn fools must have been dunk, then! You still aren't quite right in the head."

"I guess..." Zalleen mumbled defensively, still using Skydive's shoulder as a support.

The tauren hunter threw him a searing glance. Although not directed specifically at the netherwing drake, Skydive flinched as well.

"You were supposed to be getting supplies for the time on the ship! The captain made it clear they wouldn't be supplying food for passengers and we would have to bring our own."

At the mention of the word, 'ship,' Skydive groaned adamantly. "I still don't get why we need to take a boat to Panderia."

"Because there's no other way yet," Emala shot back, her voice sharper than one of her arrows. "There no zeppelin routes there. And none of you drakes have the stamina to carry us for five days over open water. As for waiting and hitching rides on Horde ships, that's not a option. I want to be first there and get at least a few hours of peace."

"B-"

Skydive's argument was cut short by Zalleen. "Hold on there, I've already told you that I brewed something with my amazing alchemy skills to stop you from getting groundsick for a duration of the trip." Zalleen grinned, reveling in his boasting. "You'll get to focus on other things besides being sick."

"Focus on what?" Skydive griped. "All that's out there is water. I may not get groundsick, but I'll still be bored out of my mind!"

"Be grateful for what you have, dammit!" Emala snapped, glaring at him harder. "At least you'll be marginally comfortable." She paused and peered past the shoulders of here two slightly drunken companions, looking at the ramshackle buildings of Ratchet. "What about Imyra, Lastraza and Stormwing? Have you seen them?"

"Nn...nadda. No," Zalleen mumbled back. "I wish I had something to get rid of this little pounding in my head..."

"I think I saw them at the inn and the weapon's shop," Skydive helpfully added, before staring at the ocean in disgust.

Emala heaved a tired sigh. "Maybe they at least stayed on task.

_Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

"Is that everything?"

in response to Stormwing's question, Lastraza ruffled through Imyra's now full bag, while the tauren druid held it for the shapeshifted red drake. Currently Lastraza had taken the form of a female blood elf in red robes and sporting long brown hair. The storm drake beside her, currently in the guide of a orc warrior with pine green skin, watched her carefully for a response.

"Indeed we do." Lastraza removed her hands, and Imyra closed the bag and slung it over her leather padded shoulder. "I have a very goof memory."

"That's a hell of a good thing, too," Imyra commented as the trio left the inn and walked at a steady pace down the dry cobbled path to the harbor. "Knowing Skydive and Zalleen, they didn't do any of what they were supposed to."

"That's why I'm regretting that I didn't tag along with them to keep them in line," Stormwing grumbled. He scowled when a goblin carrying teetering sacks of coins ran into his leg, nearly causing him to stumble. Then backed up and continued on his way without even glancing at the irritated drake. "Instead I had to settle for insisting on double the amount of supplies we were meant to get."

"At least we won't go hungry thanks to your insistence," Imyra replied. "If not maybe I could have hooked fish out of the ocean with my bare claws."

The other two companions laughed at the druid's joke. When they reached the pier, however, they found a situation that was anything but humorous.

Baffled, they watched as Zalleen and Skydive sat down on the edge of the pier, mumbling words to each other in low voices. Emala, a furious glare boring into their backs, stood with one hand twitching like it wanted to become a fist.

"Looks like our assumption was correct," Lastraza said somewhat blankly, gaze flicking from Skydive and Zalleen to Emala and back again.

"you would be very correct," Emala growled. The icy tone of her voice clearly meant she had already berated her irresponsible companions for their mistakes, but for once to little effect. "Thanks do them getting damn drunk last night, we have half of the planned supplies missing."

"Actually, I predicted this and prepared for it," Stormwing gestured at the bag that Imyra carried. She sent him a smile and tossed the bag to her sister, who caught it effortlessly with one hand. Imyra looked very like her sister, except her facial features were a little more round, her eyes were a coppery yellow instead of green, and she had two white stripes across the bridge of her nose. Her leather armor was a darker brown than the hunter's, and she wore a green band with two feathers hanging down on either side of her face. She also seemed to have a happier attitude than the irritable, grouchy personality of her older sibling.

Emala prized the bag open and inspected the contents. Allowing herself a rare smile, she handed the bag to Lastraza, who then passed it back on to Imyra. "Very good. That makes up for Skydive's and Zalleen's incompetence."

"I did make the anti groundsickness stuff," Zalleen said in a kind of whiny tone. "Don't I get credit for that?"

"I suppose you do," sighed Emala, two fingers massaging her temple. _One of these days the stress of running this group will get to me,_ she thought. Then she snorted. _That just won't __happen anytime soon._

"Maybe if we didn't have to go there on a boat-"

Before Skydive could finish his plaintive plea, Lastraza cut him off. "Zalleen has a solution to groundsickness. I, for one, am eager to observe hat it's like to ride on a ship without feeling it."

"I can't deny I don't feel the same, Skydive," Stormwing chimed in, watching with amusement as Skydive turned fully to face them with a incredulous expression.

"There's something wrong with both of you."

That earned him a bout of laughter from everyone, even Emala.

"What about Atlanta? She was getting new, um...what are they called?"

"Wetstones."

The hoarse voice was that of the final member of the group. The Death Knight seemed to have walked up to them with a silence that didn't match her attire of plate armor. A slim runeblade was slung over her back. She handed the stones to Emala, watching Zalleen with her eerie blue eyes.

"Those are for sharpening stuff, right?" he mumbled.

"Yes. They're for sharpening blades. The ones we had before were too worn," Emala responded, putting the stones in her bag.

"What are we still doing here?" Skydive asked, shading the sun from his eyes and peering out across the water.

"Waiting for the ship."

Skydive lapsed into grudging silence from Emala's curt response. For the next few hours the group made small talk, until the sun was midway in the sky and the ship was expected to come.

And come it did.

The first sign was when red sails were spotted some ways out. At first, this was dismissed as a simple Horde ship. When the vessel drew closer, however, it became clear it was anything but a standard Horde ship.

The vessel was small-only about thirty feet long and eight feet wide, perhaps even shorter in length than that. The ship had only one mast, supporting a broad foresail and a mainsail, sticking like a fish's tail fin from the back of the pitch black mast. One jib sail stretched form the top of the mast down to the very tip of a single, long bowsprit. A golden length of chain was hung on it, swaying gently with the motion of the vessel and glittering in the sunset. The body of the ship was made of a dark reddish wood, unfamiliar but vaguely similar to pine. The railing was solid gray wood, plain and unadorned. Two small cannons pocking through holes in the railing by the front of the bow were the only signs of artillery.

All in all, it was a unusual ship to see on the oceans of Azeroth-it was easy to believe it had come from somewhere unknown, whether it was a place on Azeroth or beyond.

The vessel pulled up beside the pier, bringing with it a air of silent anticipation. Seemingly spellbound by the unfamiliarity, the companions closely watched the ship. Then movement drew their eyes to a slender figure walking from the steering wheel down to the solid gray rail. The being seemed to be a woman, dressed in a long cloth robe striped with gold and blue down the front and back and wearing a red sash as a belt. A leather sash with a bronze buckle was slung diagonally across her shoulder, holstering a sword with a gold wrapped hilt across her back. She was wearing a broad rimmed black hat pulled down to shadow her face, although it was still clear that the woman wasn't human, but a humanoid of sorts. The hat had red feathers stuck in the sash wrapped around it's hump, indicating that she was captain.

With a single effortless movement, she jumped over the ship's rail and landed seamlessly on the pier. Then the woman tilted her hat back.

Emala didn't allow herself a reaction beyond a slight jerk and taking a few steps back. Zalleen and Skydive both yelped, while Lastraza, Imyra and Stormwing's eyes widened in curiosity rather than fear. Atlanta remained expressionless.

The captain laughed mockingly. She had the face of a cat, accurate in every detail save for her eyes and a lack of whiskers. Her eyes were a piercing violet, shining cunningly in a bony, narrow face. Her bare arms and face were coated in earthy brown fur."What, never seen felisar before?" then she paused as if considering her own question. "No, I suppose you haven't-it was idiotic to ask in the first place."

"We've seen Tol'vir," remarked Emala. She stepped forward to speak with the captain eye to eye. "Sure you aren't distant relatives?"

"I assure you my race is unrelated to them in anything more than appearance," was the calm response. "I'm Captain Kypra."

"Emala." Emala paused, thinking. "Should I tell you my last name?"

Kypla grinned, showing teeth that were fairly human with the exception of sharp canine teeth. She flicked her tail, which had gone unnoticed until now. "No need to, if the prospect is unsettling. Your name's booked for passage, along with your friends and a few other people."

Emala nodded, then whistled sharply in the direction of Skydive and Zalleen. They started, then sheepishly glanced at Kypra, rubbing their necks.

The captain's demeanor changed instantly. "Stop gaping or I'll rip your damn tongues out!" she snapped ferociously.

Zalleen and Skydive nodded mutely.

Lastraza and Stormwing shared amused glances. "I've never seen them so quiet so fast," Lastraza marveled.

"Maybe we should learn the captain's secret," Stormwing responded slyly.

"Meet the rest of the crew." Kypra turned toward the ship and sharply whistled.

A red fox with a bandana wrapped around his head leaped over the rail and played around the captain's feet, followed by two other figures-a human man with gray hair and a weathered face, wearing rough brown seafaring robes, and a being that at first glance looked like a black furred tauren. When inspected closer, the face of the bull man was flatter and more human, and his bowed legs ended in feet more like a kodo's. He also lacked a tail.

Both of them jumped the ship rail with relative ease, although in the bull man's case it looked somewhat more stiff and the impact of his landing shook the pier. The two came up to stand by their captain.

"Rust," Kypra pointed at the fox, which sat up and wagged his tail. Pierceclaw came up to Rust and the two began to stiff at each other tentatively. Imyra came up and petted the fox on the head, and he licked her hand in response.

"Cyranus," Kypra indicated to the bull man, who did nothing but give the passengers a cool nod. "Not a tauren, if you were wondering-he's another race. Minotaur."

"Ah..." Emala nodded, keeping her narrowed eyes on Cyranus. "That clears it up."

"And Byren," Kypra nodded to the gray haired man. He smiled with considerable warmth in his eyes.

"Oddly friendly for a pirate, aren't you?" Lastraza commented, not meanly but factually.

"You are paying costumers," Byren responded with a wry grin, a clever glint in his brown eyes. "Why not give you the treatment you paid for? Even us pirates aren't low enough to deprive you of that."

"That actually is a pretty good reason, mon," Zalleen mused. He grinned and nudged Skydive. "Maybe we should adopt that outlook in our mercenary work."

"That's rich, coming from you," Stormwing snorted.

"Hey!" Zalleen protested. "I give respect to you guys, just not to godsdamn strangers."

"Yeah, right," Skydive snickered. Zalleen scowled and elbowed him harder, prompting a pained grunt.

Imyra sighed, while Lastraza slapped a hand to her forehead. "Can you two ever maintain a respectable appearance?" Stormwing grumbled.

"Umm..."

"Never mind that," Emala interjected. She then addressed Kypra, who was standing relaxed on the pier, her gaze on the buildings of Ratchet. "Are we not going now?"

Kypra, who had been humming a tune under her breath, seemed to come out of a daze to answer the question. The tune was something unfamiliar, but oddly soothing and melodic. Emala almost wanted to ask the captain to resume.

"We have other passengers booked," Kypra responded. She said it with a relaxed drawl, matching her posture. "I'll be listing the rules when they get here?"

"Rules? Great, like this couldn't get any more boring," Skydive grumbled.

"Quit complaining already," Lastraza said in exasperation. "It'll be fine."

Emala ignored the entire exchange of words. She had the uneasy feeling she wouldn't like these other passengers, and she had learned a long time ago that her instincts tended to be all too accurate. "And who exactly are they?"

"No need for me to tell you," Kypra sounded far to amused for Emala's tastes. Clearly she was reveling in her current knowledge and the joys of refraining from sharing it. "Here they come." The captain shot her crewmates meaningful glances, even as Emala turned warily to see what she meant.

Instantly Pierceclaw began to growl. Emala's hand twitched toward her bow, but she maintained a carefully constructed calm facade. Imyra took a step back toward her older sister, her copper eyes seeming to gain a catlike gleam. Skydive and Zalleen started, getting up from the side of the pier and inching toward their companions. Stormwing and Lastraza had been standing at Emala's right to begin with, and they didn't make any move at all except to warily watch the newcomers.

Atlanta didn't move one inch. She remained standing firmly in place a few feet in front of the other companions with the unwavering impression of a icy mountain in the Storm Peaks. Her arms remained crossed as she gazed at the newcomers, clear threat in her eyes. Despite the hot Barrens sun, a chill touched the skin of all those present.

The new arrivals-a female worgen and a male dreanei-froze in place, watching the group of mercenaries with just as much wariness. The worgen had a black mane and fur, along with glowing yellow eyes. From the daggers in her belt and leather armor, Emala felt that the worgen was a rogue. And, oddly enough, familiar, although Emala couldn't place from where.

The dreanei's gold and silver armor dictated him as a paladin. He looked fairly young, although his face was still somewhat lined from battle and the strains of surviving in a world at war. He wore a two handed longsword on his back, but hadn't made any move to draw it.

A brown haired human mage was the last member of the trio. Unlike his two companions, he looked decidedly aggressive, even eager to attack.

The moment of tense silence was broken by Kypra. The captain strode into the space between the pair of Alliance members and the group of mercenary Horde fighters. Then she removed her hat from her head and performed a bow.

"Welcome, my passengers. I am offering passage to all factions, you see." Kypra stood again, placing her hat back upon her head. "Here are the rules. This is my ship, so you maintain them, or I throw you overboard. And Cyranus gets the pleasure of doing so."

The steel in Kypra's voice made it obvious she would not hesitate to do as she threatened. Cyranus cracked a menacing smile, his pupiless yellow eyes agleam.

This seemed to shake her listeners out of their respective trances. They turned their attention to the captain. Satisfied that she had attention, the captain crossed her arms and paced back and forth between them. "No fighting. Feel free to resume your ridiculous rivalries after you are off of my ship at your destination. The Runningwind is far faster than your cumbersome tubs-she'll get you there in a day or two. Lean against the rails to leave the deck marginally free, and try to make the amount of weight as even as possible on both sides. Below deck is off limits. There shouldn't be any rain during our voyage, so you shouldn't need to request sleeping belowdecks anyway. Got it? Any questions? Reasonable ones, mind you."

The human mage spoke up. "Do we need to travel with damn Horde?" his tone carried absolute hatred.

Kypra turned and regarded him distastefully. "I said reasonable questions. That doesn't count as reasonable. Therefore, I'm not answering it."

Emala glowered at the human mage, while Zalleen and Skydive both shot venomous glances at the him. Imyra looked over him rather disdainfully, while Lastraza, Stormwing and Atlanta retained impassive expressions. As mercenaries, the group was used to a certain level of animosity from the more loyal members of their faction. This was more intense hate, but still could be dealt with.

Despite her simmering anger, Emala bowed her head and laid her clenched fist over her heart. "I swear that me and my company will pertain to your rules, captain," she said smoothly.

The dreanei and worgen both shared glances, then looked back at the captain. "We agree."

Kypra turned her gaze to the human mage. "Is he..."

"No," the young dreanei replied, correctly guessing the end of the question. "He just arrived at the same moment."

"Names?" Kypra stated. She shot a look at the human mage when he went to open his mouth. "The worgen and dreanei first."

"Dalian," the young dreanai answered calmly, dipping his head slightly.

"Felizara," the rogue stated.

The mage seemed reluctant at first, then grudgingly said his name. "Toman."

Emala felt her breath hitch slightly. It passed quickly, but now the hunter knew where she had seen the worgen rogue before.

_She's the rogue we paid to open that box in Uldum. _

**Pls Review :) in this story, a wandering merchant ship found Panderia, although the starting events of the expansion will still happen later on. **

**AUTHOR NOTE**

**Anyone like this? The next chapter will be the conclusion of the first mini story. I may think of a long running plot, but for now the story will progress as stated ahead. **

**~dharak**


	2. Ep 1, part 2-Fight at sea

**Disclaimer: i don't own World of Warcraft. i own only my OCs. (i proud of them :)  
**

**Skydive's POV**

Almost instantly I was right about the boat. I hadn't gotten sick-Zalleen hadn't lied about his potion. Still, judging from his track record and that most of his potions were combat orientated, I was just waiting for some kind of annoying and/or nasty side effect. The Runningwind was going amazingly fast-i could tell by my finely honed flight instincts and the force of the wind against my face. It was certain that this ship was far faster than any others we'd been on.

To my despair, I was also right about the boredom that was destined to ail me. I wanted to fly alongside to ship, at least, but the pirate captain didn't seem to want me off the damn thing and out of her range of influence. She might've been afraid I would start firebombing the Alliance passengers. It wasn't something I would do, since it would set the ship on fire. But I guess she didn't think of that.

I was left with nothing to do besides slumping against the rail, right by one one of the cannons. I had to put up with the glares from the human mage, too-whose name had been Toman, if I remembered right. Toman was continually scowling and staring. It annoyed me, and mentally I added it to the reasons I waned to get off of this tub.

The only other thing to see was water, and the pirate crew of two rushing about, tugging on lines and securing them, or loosening them. It wasn't particularly interesting to me, but Stormwing had started to talk to the crew members about it, obviously very interested.

I shook my head in sadness. Stormwing and his pointless fascinations. (I'm sure I would be fried by lightning if he heard that. No one tell him.)

Lastraza was talking with Byren, the gray haired guy. He was telling her about sea creatures, I think, most of which sounded rather scary. Not that it discouraged Lastraza at all. She just kept asking fascinated questions. Typical of a red drake, I guess. They're damn crazy about loving the world's life forms, after all.

Imyra and Emala were talking quietly, perhaps about our plans when we landed. Pierceclaw was sound asleep, his leg occasionally twitching. Atlanta sat beside them, a distant stare focused on the hazy horizon. The worgen Felizara and dreanei, Dalian, seemed to be conversing about the same topic as our leader and her sister. So far, the only ones who were having a crappy time seemed to be me, Zalleen, and Toman.

After what felt like hours of staring at the Alliance mage, Zalleen yawned, stretched and turned his attention to me instead. More than glad for a distraction and something to do, I returned his look with one of my own. From the glint in Zalleen's gray eyes, I already knew his intention.

"Mon, how bout we play a game of dice," he asked cunningly, withdrawing his said dice from a pocket.

"Where will we throw them, though?" I asked, shooting a glance at the Runningwind's captain. She scared me, just as much as Emala did at times. And having two people that you're utterly frightened of isn't a good thing.

Zalleen pondered my question for a moment, then ruffled through his robe pockets. He produced his battered spellbook and laid it on his crossed legs. "There we go." He handed me a dice. "Ready to play?"

I grinned back at him, accepted the dice, and briefly rolled it between two fingers. "Of course, my friend."

The rules were simple-we each took turns tossing our respective dice. The first to get a six won.

We played this for a long time, maybe most of the afternoon. This seemed supported by the long shadows and dimming light bathing the deck, and the sun ducking below the curve of the distant ocean. We had each managed to get six until just then, when Zalleen outpaced me by getting it two times.

"Yeah!" he whooped, throwing his arms in the air in a show of grandeur with a lunatic grin. "I'm the dice master, mon."

"You always win," I may have sounded like I was whining, and the realization of that made me shut up. The second thing encouraging this was the growling of my stomach at the smell of cooking meat. "Mmmm..."

Zalleen sniffed at the air while absentmindedly pocketing his belongings, just noticing the smell too. It was coming from just to our right, were the other members of our mercenary band were crouched around a fire contained in a iron bowl. A grate was placed on it, keeping the meat held above the flames.

"Finally decided to come out of dreamland, did you?" Emala stated caustically, flipping a piece over with a wooden handled iron prong. It sizzled temptingly. "It was starting to come to the point where I thought I'd need to drag you by force of your own little world."

I shuddered at the thought of that. Emala never did things gently, especially when annoyed. She meant what she said, and I had no intention of being on the receiving end of her wrath-especially on such a cramped ship.

We ate silently, keeping a wary eye on the Alliance members. The deck wasn't big enough for them to get too far away from us, but the worgen and dreanei didn't appear too hostile. If anything, they looked curious. Contrary to us, they were eating dried meat, while the pirates were up by the wheel, eating something that seemed like fish from the fishy smell.

After all us passengers finished up, we sat on the deck in a kind of awkward and tense silence.

Funnily enough, it was the rogue who chose to break it. "Haven't I seen you all before?"

"Maybe," Emala answered evasively. "Maybe not." Then she glanced at the paladin and human mage from the corner of her eye. "So why did you book passage on a pirate ship, paladin? Doesn't seem like something you would do."

"I'm a explorer in spirit," Dalian answered, his voice relaxed. "Felizara I came across when traveling to Ratchet. We were going to the same place anyway, so we began traveling together."

Felizara was now tossing a dagger idly in one hand. The worgen's eyes didn't leave it. "It seemed reasonable. Still does."

"And why are you here?"

Emala seemed to take her time considering a good way of answering the question, while me and Zalleen both leaned against each other's shoulders and braced our backs against the deck rail, our content stomachs making us sleepy. Through the growing haze, I could just comprehend Emala's answer. She seemed to have decided to go with the outright truth.

"A unspoiled land, for one. And of course, money. We're mercenaries-we don't work for free." She laughed and continued. "It's only natural for us to book passage on a pirate ship."

**Emala's POV**

In the end, I passed a good deal of the evening talking to the two Alliance members, with the exception of Toman, who just stared at the sky in grudging silence. The other two surprised me by keeping a civil conversation with no open hostility-whether it was on their own accord or keeping to Kypra's rules, I wasn't entirely sure.

Eventually, though, the rocking of the Runningwind began to lull me to sleep. My sleep was largely dreamless, save for a few moments were confused images raced through my mind. Some were of Uldum, where we had battled for our lives against the insane storm drake Ernar. Now I saw our old enemy again, frozen in the fetal position we had seen him in before he had disappeared. Others I didn't recognize-a pool of water, strangely glowing, statues lining it that gleamed green. Another showed a black serpentine creature, white fangs bared and crackling with white lightning.

When I woke to the bright sun in my eyes, the images instantly turned hazy. I could still remember them, but they seemed more like mere memories and fantasies from my insane life than anything of more importance. I cast them aside and started thinking about breakfast, pondering how to wake my companions. In the end, I settled for shaking Atlanta, Imyra, and Stormwing awake. I only had to speak into Lastraza's ear to wake her up. For Zalleen and Skydive, I settled for the simplest and fastest solution. They woke sputtering after I poured water on the heads, but I ignored them and focused on food. Kypra informed us we would be landing soon, within another hour or so. Skydive whooped when he saw the hazy line of coast. I let him have his fun, deciding that as a drake stuck on a ship he should have it.

It had all been going well until an hour after breakfast. Really, I should have known our gaddamned luck wouldn't last, since it never did.

The thunk of something solid against wood signaled the beginning of our problem. Almost immediately I tensed, the image of the black serpent I had seen flashing into my mind's eye.

"Damn," I growled. I could feel Skydive staring at me in confusion, and caught a glimpse of Zalleen sniggering. I shot him a death flare out of the corner of my eye, and he quieted swiftly. A good decision, for the sake of the numbskull's health.

"Damn what?" Stormwing asked bluntly. "I'm not a sailor, but everything looks perfectly fine."

"It's not the ship that's the problem, is it?" Lastraza asked tensely. Her eyes skimmed the water.

"The water," Imyra breathed. "I'm taking to the air."

There was a green flash and the rustle of feathers, and the familiar black hawk soared over my head and perched on one of the yards, peering at the ocean. Atlanta came up beside me, and she and I shared a single wordless glance. We had learned to read each other's looks as well as words a long time ago, and Atlanta's brows drew together in concern after our silent message. She laid her hand on the hilt of her runeblade.

**Skydive's POV**

Kypra's ears flicked up. The captain stood stiffly at the wheel, her gaze on the water.

Whatever she felt, Emala seemed to as well. She slowly peered over the rail, as if she expected it to vanish like mist beneath her palms. Emala's intensity was clear in our leader's eyes when she narrowed them like she was lining up a shot.

"Something's down there," she said it very quietly. I only heard it clearly from my drake hearing, and Felizara appeared to as well. She was frowning at Emala worriedly, already fingering a pair of knives. To everyone else, Emala's words couldn't have seemed like more than a sigh.

I was just opening my mouth to speak when the surface of the ocean burst violently to admit a shape as big as the ship, showering sheets of water everywhere and causing the Runningwind to lurch violently to the right. The slippery deck made for a terrible handhold, and despite my best efforts I was thrown off the ship and toward the water. I caught a blurred glimpse of the schooner righting itself and veering away from it's attacker as I shifted into my true form.

Using every available fiber my body had to offer, I rolled once and spread my wings. I flapped hard and fast, even frantically, vying for altitude. For a sickening few moments, my paws trailed in the water. Fevered imaginings of what could attack me from under there flashed into mind, and with another flap I was curving up from the surface of the ocean in a arch, my back to it before rolling into a level glide.

Now that the sky and sea were back were they belonged, and I had gotten over my shock, I as able to actually gain a clear view of the situation. And I didn't like what I saw.

The massive thing that had erupted from below was a serpentine head and neck, mottled brown and green. It swayed back and forth in a slightly hypnotic way, watching as the Runningwind banked and turned it's side toward it.

The action was mind boggling to me. Shouldn't we be running away? I dove closer to the ship and hovered there. The Alliance guys looked up in shock, and I smirked at their expressions-especially Toman's.

"What, never seen a netherwing before?" I didn't bother giving them time to answer the question and instead shouted a question to Kypra. "Why aren't we trying to sail _away?"_

"It seems to fast," Her expression was one of pure fury, and now I could see her glaring at the side of the ship, were a series of groves had been dug from the serpent's horned head. "We can't bet on outrunning it. And the bastard damaged my ship!"

The sea serpent plunged underwater again, rocking the Runningwind violently once more. I had to backpedal in midair to avoid getting smacked by one of the red sails or getting tangled in the yard ropes. Below me, everyone else was thrown into near chaos again.

**Emala's POV**

"Fuckin beast!" I swore as the Runningwind went pitching on the waves again. More spray splashed onto the deck. It drained off fast enough through drainage holes, but I was already soaked and didn't take kindly to getting sprayed a second time. I grabbed about wildly for a handhold, mentally cursing up a storm. My hands found the black grate just behind the mast, and I clung to the rungs with one hand and a iron grip. I heard a thud and a squawk from behind me, no doubt from Pierceclaw losing his balance and falling into the rail. Reaching for my bow, I stopped and realized I wasn't in a position to notch a arrow with one hand was occupied. My mind flashed to my glaives-and just in time, as the serpent made a new appearance. The Runningwind swung sharply left, and when our attacker emerged from the deep again, I could see that Kypra had saved us from sinking.

Apparently, me and Kypra thought along the same lines when it came to attack. The captain yelled out a command to fire the cannons even as I shouted, "Attack it with all you got!"

Zalleen instantly complied, launching a focused beam of arcane magic at our huge foe. Imyra flew to the crow's nest, resumed tauren form, and did the same with one of her own nature spells. Lastraza and Stormwing shifted to their true forms and rose into the air, and the red drake dove down and raked the sea serpent across the eye. Skydive followed it up by striking the same spot in a swift dive. The sea serpent withdrew with a ear rending screech that only heightened when Stormwing's lightning breath shocked it, slightly scorching the side of the ship too as it surged in the surrounding water. My glaives cut into it's tender tongue, then flew back to me in a arch. I caught them with ease. Cannon fire rang out, and two smoking cannonballs rammed into the underside of the creature's jaw, making a cracking sound. The Alliance members seemed to finally realize that our crazed band knew what we were doing, and the mage and paladin added their own spells to the bombardment. Atlanta crouched on the deck, obviously debating on what to do as a melee fighter, while Felizara seemed in the same predicament. Pierceclaw still crouched by the rail, unhappily glaring at the target he couldn't reach.

For a moment our battle seemed to freeze in time. The sea serpent loomed above us like a menacing, bleeding statue. The only movement was from the Runningwind, the one masted schooner still rocking on the wakes. The only thing that was comforting me so far was that this thing wasn't the black serpent I had seen. Which in the end, really wasn't a very comforting train of thought.

Then the thing screeched and dove at the ship.

This time I had stood and gotten my bow in position, launching arcane arrows. I knew it probably wouldn't be enough to stop it, and the Runningwind had been knocked of it's wind rich course in the confusion caused by the serpent's attack.

"Stormwing!" I yelled above the chaotic swirl of noise, praying he could move fast enough. "Ram!"

I heard a rush of wind, then saw Stormwing's bulky form slam into the side of the serpent's head just as my arcane arrows connected. Stormwing skillfully avoided my shot and buried his claws in the sea creature's scaly hide, and the serpent screeched again when my arrows pricked it. Then Stormwing gave a mighty heave and used his momentum to yank the head off course. The Runningwind caught a gust of wind and moved away. The wind kept going, allowing the schooner to circle at a safe distance.

The good news: the ship was safe. The bad was that the sea serpent's head had plunged underwater, taking Stormwing with it.

"No!" Lastraza's keen was high and loud. She fretfully circled, while Skydive stared down at the water in a state of shock. My own mind was reeling at the possibility we could use one of our party at sea. Worse, if Stormwing died I would always feel like it had been my fault, and hate myself for the rest of my life.

"Fuck!" I shouted, running to the railing and staring over it into the water. "_Damn it, _Stormwing! Don't drown, don't drown..."

Our fears and uncertainties were very thankfully banished when a flare of blue light shone and tendrils of electricity danced on the crests of the roiling water. A writhing form was lit clearly in the center of the light, jerking and convulsing. Then a pine green form broke the water, claws pawing at the air and soaked wings beating at the water.

Lastraza cried out in joyous relief and swooped downward. She grasped one of Stormwing's forelegs, then shouted at Skydive for help. He seemed stunned all over again by the sudden reemergence of his friend.

"Skydive!" I bellowed at him. "Help her!"

He blinked and then shot downward, grasping Stormwing's other foreleg. Then the two drakes hauled Stormwing up, dripping wings and all. He shifted into mortal form as he approached the ship, and Lastraza lowered him gently onto the boards.

He huddled coughing while the ship began to move again. Lastraza held a open flame in her hands, gently holding it close to him. She looked even more concerned than she usually did when one of us got hurt. But when it came to Stormwing, she always seemed to have some deeper level of care for him since we had concluded our journey in Uldum.

I smiled behind my clenched fist when I saw them together. I had a pretty good idea what that deeper care was, but it wasn't for me to reveal it.

Turning my brisk attention back to more practical matters, I stared at the coastline while giving out my orders. "Stormwing, you okay now?"

From behind me, he coughed again. "Yeah, I'm fine." He managed a laugh. "Could have done without the near drowning..."

"Damn right, we all could've," I grunted. I looked at the coast again. "Alright, we're landing soon. Make sure we have all our supplies with us-knowing our luck, we'll need all of it."

_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

I surveyed the land we had landed on. Very green, and so far most of the plant life seemed to be willow trees and clusters of ferns. I could spot mountains in the distance, but those would be crossed later. First we would journey through this forest. Pierceclaw's yellow eyes lit up as he sniffed the air and dashed back and forth through the nearby trunks, looking alertly about. It seemed a good enough sign he agreed with me.

Rummaging in my money bag, I turned and handed the appropriate sum of currency to the pirate captain. She nodded in approval, and responded again with a slight bow. "You are very good customers."

"Yes!" Skydive was standing in drake form on a rock, wings spread wide. "I'm off the ship!" He whooped again.

Imyra shot him a embarrassed glance, and I shot him a glare. "Don't mind him."

Kypra nodded, grinning. "I won't." She performed a flip over the rail of the ship and onto the deck, then called to raise anchor. As the Runningwind started to glide away, she gave one last wave.

Not knowing what else to do, I waved back. Then I turned to Dalian and Felizara, who where silently watching the ship sail away. The mage Toman had already gone stomping off after paying the instant the ship landed, and I hadn't tried to hide my happiness about that.

"What are you going to do?" I said abruptly.

"We head east," Dalian responded, shouldering a leather pack. He nodded at me respectfully. "You were good to talk to."

"Think we'll ever meet again?" I wondered aloud.

Dalian gave me a grim smile in return. "Maybe."

"We can't guarantee we won't be enemies the next time, I'm afraid," Felizara finished.

"Very well," I muttered. "May your journey be a good one." I looked at my companions.

"Let's move."

A chorus of cries from five mouths answered me.

_**Yay, new ch! It's my Christmas gift to anyone who's been watching this for update...(looks sheepish). I know it's a late update, but I have a good reason-i wanted to do a Christmas themed picture for my Deviantart this year. I didn't predict the time it would take right, and, needless to say...it's been taking up a lot of evenings, with the exception of raid nights. That's all...**_

_**Except for this. I would love feedback for Christmas. Pretty pls :) **_


	3. Ep 2, part 1-Jade, magic, and ambush

**Disclaimer-i don't own World of Warcraft.  
**

**Emala's POV**

I cursed for the seventh time in the last hour.

"Damnit. Were the hell are these thieves?"

"Maybe it's a conspiracy among the Order," Zalleen was clearly trying to joke, but no except Skydive seemed to find it amusing. "They could have sent cloud serpents off with it and just be sending us a wild goose chase."

Skydive chortled, then stared of into space with a lustful expression. "Geese are plump, and...now I'm hungry."

I shook my head in disgust, kneeling down to examine the tracks we had been trying to make sense of. It was just like them to start fooling around when they should've been focusing on other things-namely the task at hand.

"Will you two pipe down?" Stormwing's gruff voice sounded from the dimness behind me. "We're trying to think here-"

"And that means we can't have fun?"

A irritated sigh. "Please just be silent..."

Zalleen and Skydive did fall silent after that, much to my relief. I had felt like we were being watched, and I didn't require the extra noise.

Lastraza and Imyra were kneeling on either side of me, peering at the tracks. They were deep-set, clearly made by something very heavy. The shape looked vaguely pawlike, but it had clearly come from a bipedal being. The prints were about a foot and a half across in all directions, too big to belong to a standard humanoid.

"What do you think?" I asked, a little halfheartedly. The idea of taking a break from this was starting to get tempting, clashing with the desire to finish the job and get our money.

Lastraza's nose twitched. "The prints smell like the rest of the ground. There isn't a trace of another scent, with the exception of small animals and us. Strange."

I growled under my breath, then stood and readujted my bow over my shoulder. "And useless."

A rustle of brush sounded. I glanced toward it, my regular attention to detail somewhat clouded by the ongoing failure to track down our targets. The gleam of green stone snapped me back to attention. Skydive hissed behind me, and I heard a rustle as his wings half spread. Alerted by our strange behavior, the rest of our group all silenced and listened.

A crashing and splintering of bamboo heralded the arrival of a three huge stone forms into the clearing. One barreled close by Imyra and swung a polarm. Imyra shifted into a bird and spiraled out of the way, then transitioned straight to bear. She dug ruts in the ground when slamming back to earth, then growled lowly and charged. At the same time I had drawn and readied a shot, and was turning to face our foes.

They didn't look like thieves. They looked like fifteen foot tall mogu statues, but animated and moving.

What really caught my eye was the color of the stone. Green. It was jade-like I had seen in my muddled dreams on the ship.

The distraction caused me to hesitate, my mind trying to make sense of the vision. I was brought back out of dreamland when one of the jade monstrosities charged at me.

I leaped aside. The statue's huge blade dug a massive rut in the ground, showering dirt as it was lifted into the air again. I fired a explosive arrow at it, but the statue dodged backward with surprising speed. The projectile hit the ground and exploded there in a shower of flames and cinders. Luckily most of it dispersed into the air before it could start a forest fire. I fired again, this time hitting the statue in the shoulder. A smoking crater opened, but I still had to duck and roll to avoid it's polarm. Pierceclaw darted around the stone legs, biting and clawing. He seemed to be slowing it down, but sheer might and reach of the polarm was still the statue's advantage.

Just before the statue could take another swipe at me, Stormwing charged at it from the side. He tackled the statue to the ground, claws raking at it's stone chest and stomach. Ruts appeared in the stone warrior's rock armor, and Stormwing attempted to bite the statue on the shoulder only to be thrown off. He regained his feet swiftly with practiced ease and swung his spiked tail hard.

Stormwing's blow clubbed the statue solidly on the side of the head. I fired a steam of four arcane arrows, most sticking in it's arm save for one that only grazed it. A spiderweb of cracks began to spread from the puncture points. It roared and then swung the polearm, clubbing Stormwing on the head with a loud crack. His metal helm seemed to block the worst of the impact, but he still stumbled and blinked fuzzily.

I cursed. The cracks were small and spreading slowly. A solid blow was what was needed, but Stormwing still seemed dazed, Pierceclaw couldn't reach high enough, and I definitely couldn't get close enough. The statue had turned it's attention on me, and it charged. I began to dash toward a tree, hoping he would wake. It's branches were low-I could use them as leverage to jump higher. And maybe get at look at the other's situations, too.

**Imyra's POV**

My sister's rampart cursing a encouraging signal she was still alive, me and Atlanta charged the second statue. This one had a sword and shield, and from the stance it had taken up it probably knew how to use them.

Skydive and Zalleen had seemed to vanish, but from the cries above it was fairly obvious they were locked in another battle. Lastraza I hadn't heard or seen at all since the fight broke out, and that worried me.

I tried to glance around for a flash of my friend's red scales, but then was nearly rammed on the head by the statue's shield. I ducked under it and jumped, ramming the statue's stomach as hard as I could. I tried to rake my claws down it, but only produced shallow grooves and sparks. The statue dropped it's sword and grabbed me around the neck.

I shifted into cat form and slipped out of it's grasp. The fist snapped shut above me, just as my head escaped it's grip. Trying not to think about the messy outcome if I hadn't moved fast enough, I began to dodge the statue's strikes as it took up it's sword again and started swiping at me.

I leaped left, and the sword blade rammed down before me. I pivoted just in time, kicking up dirt, and leaped to the right. This time I jumped onto the sword blade and used it as a springboard, lunging for the statue's face. I shifted into a bear again and wrapped my front and back legs around the thing's head.

The jade warrior pitched back and forth, swiping at the air like it was trying to find me. I heard a clang as Atlanta blocked a swing that came to close for comfort, then heard her parry again. I drew my head back and bared my teeth, trying to think of the most vulnerable part of a statue's face. In other words, a part I could damage without cracking all my teeth.

I considered, then came up with another idea. I stabbed my claws right at the thing's eyes.

The impact sent bolts of pain through my nerves. I half expected to see blood, but the thick claws held true. Cracks spread from the middle of the statue's eyes.

The thing growled. It swung it's sword at me. With a yelp I shifted into a hawk and spiraled out of the way, the jade sword just clipping my tail feathers. I landed and then shifted into cat from, swinging my head back and forth to spot Atlanta.

It didn't take long. I saw her soon enough, fighting like a silent demon. Our resident Death Knight was surrounded by a faint cloud of white mist as her runeblade matched her foe's, blow to blow. Frost rime seemed to be forming on the statue's arms.

I squinted at it. The rime was either getting thicker, or I was just hoping that was the case. After I heard groaning from the statue's joints, I became certain.

Atlanta was generating the cloud of mist, either to hinder her enemy or make her stronger-or both. Her blows were steadily gaining power and speed, runeblade cutting through the air so fast I could barely see it. The statue's limbs were definitely getting weighed down now.

I dashed forward when the statue slowly lifted it's sword. I heard my friend's blade whistle as I leaped at the statue's chest, shifted into bear, and then rammed into it. A blade meeting rock sounded, followed by cracking stone and twin thuds.

This time the stone warrior was unable to keep it's balance. After stumbling awkwardly, it tilted backward. I jumped as it did, spreading my paws flat. I put all my weight forward and when the statue's head hit the dirt, I brought myself paws first down on it's head.

I didn't seem to have caused much damage but a fracture or two, but my real goal had been achieved-the head of our enemy was now stuck solidly a few feet in the ground, leaving the body flailing aimlessly. Now I could see that half it's arms had been cut off, no doubt courtesy of Atlanta.

Stepping aside and returning to tauren form, I nodded at Atlanta. "Care to do the honors?"

She responded with a smile that could only be described as eerie and creepy. Then she stepped forward, runeblade glowing blue.

"Time to finish this."

**Skydive's POV**

Emala up a tree, Stormwing momentarily useless, and Atlanta and Imyra about to kill of a enemy. Yay for them, this was turning out so well.

Pretend you didn't hear my sarcasm. The wording could upset some of my more volatile friends.

And speaking of trees, that was were Zalleen was-balancing on a high branch, shading his eyes and peering up at me. "Mon, move! You gonna crash and burn if ya don't"

I rolled and dived, avoiding the downward rake from my pursuer. "That's not encouraging, dammit!"

to Zalleen's credit, he did sound genuinely worried. When he got scared or worried, his racial accent became existent again.

I pulled out of my roll and snapped my wings open, gliding then flapping upward powerfully on a slanted angle. I weaved around attempts to attack me, then flipped briefly onto my back and let out a stream of fire.

The blast hit one of my pursuers, and I turned my head to bathe the other one in fire as well. I rolled back into a normal flight position, glancing over my shoulder.

The two massive birds emerged from the blue fire with ash coatings and high screeches. Both were my size, if not bigger. Did I neglect to mention that they were flying statues?

How they could fly was beyond me. It was either magic or just plain bad luck, which seemed to follow us everywhere now that I thought about it. Neither hunch was any help-i was about as magical as Emala was motherly. Zalleen was no shaman, and I was fairly certain rock monsters were a shaman's field of expertise. And I couldn't manipulate luck to my needs.

That left me with two stone pains to deal with-

_But wait. There was a third jade bird, so were is it now?_

I had seen any number of shocks in the past years-psychotic Titan constructs in Uldum, crazed elementals trashing Orgimmar, and gods know what else. Despite that, I wasn't prepared for the sudden burst of lightning that accompanied the third jade bird appearing practically right above me.

The harsh smell of ozone bursting into my nostrils, I huffed it out and then banked sharply right, purposely falling a few more feet. Deciding that I couldn't beat a teleporting bird without some amount of trickery,I dove under the tree canopy. I quickly located a a thick bough and perched on it. I dimmed my glowing stripes, wings, and horns to the point were they were nearly undecipherable from the rest of me, then went statue still on the branch. (I only realized later what a ironic choice of words that was.) I could hear some faint cracking and hoped vehemently the limb would hold long enough.

Now that I could stop and think for a moment, I realized that I couldn't really hear the sounds of battle anymore. I looked carefully around me. Maybe I had flown to far away to hear?

A rustle sounded above me. Startled, I looked up with a tiny hiss.

Zalleen grinned impishly back at me and made a motion with his hands, indicating a spell. Judging from his sudden appearance, it wasn't hard to guess what spell it had been. I still sent him a confused look, though, inquiring why he had followed me.

Zalleen brought a palm down on his forehead. He mouthed out, 'to help you. Duh.' Lip reading was something all of us could do-we had learned to communicate silently that way. I mouthed back, 'oh..right. I should have thought of that.'

Zalleen rolled his eyes in response.

Our moments of foolery were soon over. Two of the jade birds crashed through the canopy, then skimmed the ground just below us. I cursed silently when the third one didn't show. It had been my intended target.

When the birds soared under my branch, I reared and brought my forepaws down on it. The wood finally shattered and then the thick limb crashed down

There was a pair of satisfying cracks, and the statues gave final cries as they crumbled. I scattered the remains even more with my fire, then hovered and looked around for the trio's leader.

A flash behind me heralded his arrival. I shot straight up, right through the tree canopy and back into the open sky. The last stone bird followed, snapping and raking at my tail.

I put on another burst of speed and glanced behind me. The jade bird was falling behind, but with the teleporting thing it didn't need to fly to catch up. I tuned sharply and dove at it, indenting to try and damage a wing.

The bird had other ideas, apparently. It vanished in a flash of lightning, almost instantly reappearing right behind me. I felt the sudden sting of lightning on my tail and dove, rolled, and then came back up again. I blew a stream of fire at it, and again was rewarded only with a even more angry enchanted statue.

"Zalleen!" I didn't bother not to shout, seeing as how I could become fried drake soon. I rolled again, tucking my wings in close as the lightning shot from the birds' own wings, nearly roasting my own. "Do something to help!"

**Zalleen**

He'd requested help-so I would give it. The real question was how...

Then I a stroke of brilliance, I knew what to do.

I raised my staff and carefully tracked the bird in the sky. The timing needed to be right. When I felt the stone statue was right above me, I chanted the words to a ice spell.

The animated being became encased in ice. It only had time for a surprise squawk before it was completely encased in a ice block. Our enemy fell, and then hit the ground just as sparks of electricity danced around it. The ice cracked, and the statue along with it. The light died from the stone bird's eyes as the enchantment that animated it was broken.

Skydive landed beside me, breathing hard. For a moment we stared at our shattered enemy in mutual satisfaction and a little bit of disbelief.

"I didn't think that would work as well as it did," I remarked, studying my handiwork. "I thought all I'd do was incapacitate it for a bit..."

Skydive poked at the bird with his nose, the ice already melting in the warm air. "Maybe jade's just a bit weaker than normal rock?"

I shrugged beats me. Let's find-"

The sudden crashing of brush interrupted him, and a black stag burst into our little clearing. Druidic symbols and adornments made it plainly recognizable, along with the black.

I yelped and hopped backward when Imyra skidded to a stop before us. Her eyes, still copper yellow, were frantic. She was breathing even harder than Skydive, and a long cut along her side was slowly seeping out blood.

"What the-" Skydive didn't finish his sentence. In a puff of smoke Imyra was a tauren again, grabbing hold of his horns and yanking his head down to level with hers. Skydive seemed utterly stunned by the unexpected behavior, and I wasn't much better.

"We need to leave," she stated adamantly. "Now." Her voice cracked a little. "I was ordered to."

"Why?" Skydive finally found his voice.

"The others were captured by...something, I didn't see it clearly," Imyra replied. Now a slight tremor could be heard, obviously one of fear and worry for her sister. I felt like hugging Imyra and nearly did, but she held out her hands to stop me.

"No time," she said breathlessly. "Full explanations can wait-"

The air suddenly turned cold. More ominous than that, a unreasonable feeling of fear settled in.

Skydive needed no further urging. With a yelp he took flight, leaving me to yank out the little statue I used to summon my windrider. The instant it appeared I jumped into the saddle. Just in time, too, since it took flight with the same urgency as Skydive. We flew away from the ominous force. The direction I didn't bother to figure out, at least not yet.

I glanced sideways at the black hawk beside me. Gray eyes met copper yellow, and we both silently asked the same question.

_What are we going to do?_

**I know this is a little late of an update, but I life got in the way. Where's Lastraza and the others, and what'll the remaining members of the group do? (the next ch will start in Lastraza's POV) I might take me a bit to type up the answers to said questions...**

**PLS Review. It is wonderful encouragement :)**


	4. Ep 2, part 2-mysterious cpators

**Disclaimer- I don't own Wow, nor any characters from it (some may be able to know which actual WoW character is featured below.)**

**Lastraza's POV**

The first sense to come back was feeling. I was lying on something cold and hard, probably rock. Sight came back next, and in stages-at first all I saw was bleary lumps. The lumps became actual shapes, then cleared up completely-although what was revealed to me made me think my sight was still not quite back to normal. Or I had somehow hit my head way too hard, always assuming that was how I had ended up here to begin with. Seeing as how my memories were no help in determining that, it would be wiser to asses the situation rather than the cause.

Serpentine forms ringed me, eying my form and murmuring. They were undulating with a flowing motion in midair. They bore black scales.

This itself wasn't too unusual, but I mentally balked at the menace I felt when I caught sight of white streaks appearing and then disappearing on them. It didn't look or feel right, but unnatural and corruptive. I restrained a physical reaction, not wanting any of my onlookers and probably captors to see signs of weakness.

The unusual beings had draconic heads, but disturbingly blank eyes. They had legs, but their legs were somewhat short and thin. They were some kind of dragonkin, from the scent, but of no kind I'd ever seen before.

I felt that they were comparing me to themselves in stature. Mainly, this seemed confirmed since I felt their gazes particularly on my wings and legs.

Speaking of those limbs, I only now began to wonder how they were doing. I felt aches, but most seemed like they were from bruising. Tentatively I tried moving, uneasy that nothing bound me. First I moved my splayed left wing. The silver rings on the leading spur scraped the hard rock ground briefly before I lifted the wing and folded it neatly. Keeping an eye on my ring of spectators, I drew my forelegs back under me in preparation to stand, the bracers on them scraping against the rock as well.

One or two of the strange dragonkin flinched, even though the sounds had been small. They certainly hadn't hurt my ears, and most of the serpentine beings didn't react either. This was just getting stranger and stranger by the minute. After standing, I began to cautiously walk toward the side of the ring of dragonkin. For some reason I was acutely aware of how loud my pawsteps were.

I hadn't gone that far before hitting something, and then I was thrown backward like something had looped around my middle and yanked me back. I hit another something, then tumbled back onto the rock, a faint ringing in my ears. I awkwardly scrambled back up, expecting to hear some signs of mirth. But there were none. The serpentine dragonkin just stared at me with the blank eyes.

"Why am I here?" I demanded in Draconic, my voice echoing eerily. "What do you want with me?"

Acting like I hadn't spoken at all, two of the bigger serpents started to speak to one another. There voices were like their eyes-carrying a aggressive tone, but about what was beyond me.

"The witch kept her part."

_Witch? _

The serpent continued, seemingly oblivious to my confused but searching look. Now that I looked closer, there was a prevalent emotion in their eyes-a all consuming anger. "A member of the Red Flight is just what our master wants."

A shiver ran down my spine. Now I was really starting to fear for my life. What master could they possibly mean? And if I was here...

What had happened to the others?

**3rd person Pov**

A elderly female pandaren sat in the middle of a pool of water, surrounded by kneeling jade statues. A malevolent smile graced her features as she stared down at the ornate box in her hands.

**Stormwing's POV**

The first thing I saw when I woke-darkness. It was as black as pitch, and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't see through it. It was clearly a unnatural darkness, since I should have at least been able to see the warm red forms of my companions.

Grunting slightly, I slowly rose to all four feet. I winced when a fierce bolt of stinging pain shot down my flank, and moving my foreleg produced a dull throbbing. I tried to search my memory for the source of the injuries, but they slipped through my mental claws like string of slippery weed-impossible to grasp but for a few brief moments.

A shouted curse sounded from my right, and something hit my flank. I hissed through clenched teeth when it stung again, then sniffed at the air. I noticed it was stegant and dry even as Emala's scent reached my nostrils from beside me. From a little further away came Atlanta's scent, and Pierceclaw's.

There were four other scents missing-Skydive's, Zalleen's, Imyra's, and Lastraza's. It instantly worried me, I felt a irrational urge to call out for them. Especially Lastraza, for a reason I couldn't pinpoint. Part of it may have been that she had been missing even before this.

There was the shuffling if hooves next to me, on a seemingly hard surface. I scratched absently at the ground with my own claws. What I felt seemed like wood or smoothed bark. But since when was the ground made of bark?

"Oh," Emala remarked from beside me. It was hard to tell with her, but there may have been a note of concern. The tone mostly made it sound like a matter of fact statement, rahter than a term of compassion. "I think you've got a wound here. I probably shouldn't have hit you..."

"Why did you do that?" My voice sounded hoarse, and my throat felt dry. I coughed a bit, then spoke again. A faint pain ran through my ribs. _Gods damned, what did those jade bastards do to me? _"I'm not an enemy."

Emala sighed, and I dully heard her tramp off toward Atlanta and Pierceclaw. "I know-I reacted based on the last things I remembered seeing, which were enemies."

Now she sounded tired and a little worried-both things I wasn't used to hearing. I had to remind myself that Emala was close to fifty by now, and that sometimes she couldn't hide the burdens of leading us.

Now that Emala's actions were cleared up, I was free to dig through my foggy memory again. Wearily lowering myself onto my belly, I winced again. Maybe something had slightly cracked my ribcage, but until I could remember, I wouldn't know why.

The first thing to emerge from my foggy memory was searching the forest. A unpleasant choke grew in my throat when I remembered telling Skydive and Zalleen to shut up. Who knew what had happened to them. If we were destined for death, I didn't like to think those were the last words I'd ever said to the endearing idiots.

_Don't think like that._

Obeying my self addressed chide, I moved on to images of the ambush and the fight. I remembered something hitting my head hard enough for the impact to get through my helm.

The next part took a bit longer to recall. But the fog cleared like I had torn it with a claw, and then the memory was clear. There had been chanting, a cloaked figure, sudden darkness similar to what we were in now. Then the heavy footfalls of statues, and blows landing on my sides with deadly force. A sharp fiery feeling as something cut me down the flank and the warm flow of blood. Then a drowsy feeling, like falling asleep, but forced instead of natural.

I was fairly certain that the injuries hadn't been nearly as bad as they could have been for two reasons-the extra endurance and muscle granted by my battle training, and that the attackers had wanted to capture me in relatively good shape.

Come to think of it, both had probably been factors.

Recalling blood and realizing it was probably all over my side, I twisted and maneuvered my head so I could start licking the long wound, ignoring the other aches. A coppery smell, taste, and the distinct feel of crusted blood on my tongue confirmed it. I must have been unconscious for some time, but not long enough for all the blood to dry.

As I cleaned the wound, I listened in on Atlanta and Emala's conversation.

"How're you feeling?"

"Good enough to stand," Atlanta replied with a grunt. Her plate armor clanked as she stood, and our resident death knight muttered a curse. "Damn this darkness."

"What concerns me more is were we are," Emala's voice was edgy. "We don't know, and that's a problem."

I finished my cleanup and got to my feet again. I made my way over to them, worry still plaguing me but not quite as distinct as before. "Do you have anything I could light with my lightning?"

Emala paused. I then heard her shuffling in her pack, then a exhale of relief. "Yes, I do. A torch."

"You can't light that with a flint?" Atlanta muttered.

"I can't see well enough to discern it from all the other small things in here," Emala responded irritably.

"Carefully, now," Atlanta requested calmly. "Light it, Stormwing."

I breathed in, ignoring the slight throb in my ribs. Then I breathed out. I tried to make the bolt as small as possible, but Emala still flinched when it went past her. Pierceclaw squawked a little, and the red raptor inched behind his master. The desired goal was achieved, though, since the torch lit and light was given. Apparently whatever blocked my natural vision didn't stop light sources from other means.

Experimentally, Emala waved the torch in a arch. It didn't reveal much. Eyes darkening even more than they already had, she began to slowly pace forward, stepping very lightly with the care only hunters and rogues could truly have. After a few steps she stopped abruptly, a exclamation of surprise escaping her throat.

The cry caused me to be relieved and worried at the same time. She didn't sound like she was in danger, but very few things prompted a incredulous reaction from her. A prickling was starting to grow under my scales that had nothing to do with my injuries.

I found Emala simply standing in place, her hand on something flat that looked like a wall. She was looking at it and then looking down, muttering curses under her breath and sounding utterly confused.

Confused as well, I moved closer and looked at the wall by the light of the torch. It became clear that the texture wasn't rock, but looked to be smoothed wood. For a minute I thought I was looking at a tree trunk, but then a glance from side to side confirmed that there was no tree before me.

Abruptly thinking back to the feel of the ground below me when I had woken up, I ducked my head and took a closer look. I blinked in confusion when I saw a smooth expanse of wood.

The light began to move away. It didn't take long for Emala to circle the entire area, and come back with a very dismal and confusing report.

"We're surrounded on all sides. In a rectangular area..." she paused as her eyes wandered upward, narrowing. "Like a box."

The prickling got even worse. "Then I'll try and see if I can fly out."

Given that I could see no stars, moon, or any other sign of the night sky, I didn't feel to encouraged this would be successful endeavor. At the moment, I didn't care. I just wanted a way out of this creepy darkness and back into the light.

I labored upward, ignoring the complaints of my damaged sides. I had gotten maybe ten feet before I had run into something. Suddenly enraged by this unexplained obstacle, I loosed a lightning bolt at it from my open mouth in the moment of desperation.

The bolt sizzled out on the barrier before me, briefly showing yet another expanse of wood. Now I was confused, afraid, and more than a little angry. What in hell was this place? The lightning should have set the wood on fire, not rebounded it. I began to spiral downward, mind cluttered with far to many thoughts.

I landed heavily, and by the light of the still aflame torch, I could see Emala's grim expression. Even Atlanta's was starting to look the same. Clearly they'd both seen what I had in that brief lightning flash. Pierceclaw was pacing back and forth behind Emala, growling. His yellow eyes seemed mocking imitations of stars as they gleamed in the torchlight, but I couldn't tell the raptor to close them. All I could do was avert my eyes.

Even though I'd never had much of a bond with the sky (I'd heard no end of the irony from Skydive) and relied far more on physical strength, having no access to the sky never felt good for any drake. I was getting increasingly edgy, and felt certain that I would end up going mad if we ended up in here for too long.

I shook my head impatiently, trying to whip sense back into my head and scatter the thoughts like leaves. It only worked somewhat, and what I heard next did a good job of undoing that work.

"Wherever we are," Emala finally became the one to break the silence. "It's plain we can to do nothing but hope for Zalleen and Skydive to get us out."

"Them?" I said disbelievingly. I hung my head as I felt the mantle of hopelessness start to drop. Mixed in with it was a slight feeling of relief that the the mage and netherwing were very likely still free and alive. "Those two idiots cannot be our only hope."

"They have Imyra with them," Emala responded, her gaze distant now as she sat and leaned against the wall. "She should be able to keep them on track. Besides," she commented with a slight grin, "When they do, at least we've found our target. And in turn, our money."

"Oh..." Now that I knew that, it didn't seem like the prospect of rescue was as dismal as before. I settled in to wait for the long run, carefully lying down and closing my eyes. Maybe a nap would make me blissfully unaware of this dark place. While Emala daydreamed of our pay. And Atlanta did-well, something. I didn't know if Death Knights dreamed, asleep or otherwise.

I'd always been a odd one when it came to sleeping. I liked sleeping every night, even straight through it. I knew Lastraza and Skydive only slept a few hours every night, and Skydive usually ended up falling asleep sometime in the morning. The usual result was that he was just as hard to wake up as Zalleen was.

Perhaps I could imitate normalcy by sleeping. Then again, since when had anything ever been normal for us?

**Imyra's POV**

"So, anyone got any bright ideas?"

Zalleen's question broke the belligerent silence that had presided over our makeshift camp for the last few hours. After fleeing pursuit, we had managed to loose our enemies and finally stopped behind a high ridge. I was aware we had run somewhere to the southeast, away from the Order of the Cloud Serpent base, the Arboretum. We'd made some halfhearted attempts to talk before falling into depressive silence again, staring grimly into the little fire we had managed to light. It was a depressive silence that seemed to go on for ever, even though in reality it had only been a few hours. Zalleen's question was the first sound to break the silence, and in some ways it felt comparable to breaking glass.

"I may have a start," I responded. I winced when I heard how listless I'd sounded. My thoughts had still been largely occupied by imagery of what could be happening to my sister and our captured companions.

Zalleen either didn't notice my tone or did a good job of hiding his reaction. "And we would start how?"

"Tracks," I answered, casting a concerned glance at Skydive. He could obviously hear us, but the way he kept his gaze fixated on the sky worried me. The emotions going through those eyes didn't seem encouraging. His only response to my words was a nod.

"We follow the tracks, and once we see what we're dealing with, then we make a plan."

**And end. Real sorry for update delay-a combination of life and mild writer's block got to me. I think I've abolished the mild blockage, so hopefully next update will be faster.**

**Reviews pls, I love feedback :)**


	5. Ep 2, part 3-building tensions

**Disclaimer- I don't own World of Warcraft, Blizzard Entertainment does. **

**Note- I'll be referring to the mage blink spell as flash porting from now on, just because when saying 'blink,' it could be comprehended as actually blinking a eyelid, which I don't want. **

**Read on :)**

**Imyra's POV**

I was peering though bamboo stalks at the hut, while Skydive did the same next to me in his mortal form. Zalleen's nervous shuffling could be heard just behind us, along with barely audible mutters in his native language. It was a very good thing there was a fair amount of distance between us and the hut, since I was certain wandering jade entities could have heard the mage otherwise.

The hut was surrounded by a revolving ring of floating objects-large glowing jade chunks, I assumed. Some were slower and others fast, some a speed in between. I had been trying to time them for last few minutes, since I wasn't altogether sure if flying over was a good idea. There could be any number of hidden surprises making that just as bad a approach as running through them.

As expected, Skydive and Zalleen didn't help. After a few minutes, Zalleen's nervousness seemed to triple. He yanked Skydive back from the bamboo stalks by the shapeshifted drake's arm, and then the two started arguing. Completely oblivious to the proximity of danger, of course.

"Hey!" Skiydive reclaimed his arm and then proceeded to glare in annoyance at his friend. "Why'd you do that?"

"They could've seen ya-"

"I was hidden perfectly fine-"

"You don't know that, you could have been spotted and we all coulda been captured and experimented on or something-"

"You're way to paranoid-"

"It's not paranoia, it's precaution-"

"Stop interrupting me!"

"No way mon!"

By now the verbal battle had developed into a wrestling match, throwing up a fair amount of noise as Skydive and Zalleen rolled around and snapped a few dead bamboo stalks, yanking on things like hair and clothing. Already fed up by how much noise they had been making before, this was crossing the line.

"Enough!" My harsh whisper didn't work. It took wedging myself between than and forcibly shoving my two friends apart, then repeating myself. "Enough!"

The fighting stilled. Panting hard, Skydive and Zalleen pulled away from me. Zalleen grumpily rubbed his upper arm, while Skydive was scowling resentfully and massaging his head.

"Zalleen nearly took all my hair out..."

"Couldn't it just come back when you shift again?" Zalleen grumbled in response.

"No I see why Emala gets so annoyed with you two," I groaned, while peering about to make sure nothing had heard the fight and was trying to sneak up on us. "You two don't usually fight so seriously, anyway. What's gotten into you?"

There was a awkward silence in answer. "Don't know," both muttered simultaneously, but in a way that made me think they did know and just wouldn't tell. It was probably fear-whether fear for themselves or the others, I didn't know.

Either way, nothing seemed to have noticed us, for which I was grateful. I went back to staring at the rocks, wishing some of Emala's observation talents would rub off on me.

The thought caused a flash of memory, from a time when we had gone into Deeplom. We had been facing a similar dilemma with a barrier made by rock elementals. Emala told Zalleen to flash teleport behind them, then destroy what was keeping the rock ring up.

I wasn't sure that would work here. I wasn't even sure if Zalleen could get past the jade rocks that way, but it seemed the only viable option. Nudging him out of his grumpy reprieve, I pointed at the ring of rocks. "You think you could flash port behind those? Maybe take out what's powering them?"

That snapped Zalleen right out of his funk, but then he went straight to incredulous mode. "What?" he asked, a little numbly I noted.

'Flash port behind the rocks." I said it like it was simpler than it sounded, both for my sake and Zalleen's.

"Are ya crazy?" he stammered, slowly inching backwards in a sitting position. "What if those rocks instantly zap me into a charred version of a troll? A handsome one at that," Zalleen seemed to add the last part as a afterthought to himself.

Rolling my eyes, I reached out, grabbed the mage's shoulder, and drew Zalleen back to his original position. Ignoring his twitch of protest, I pointed again. Then I said it again, trying to assert authority. "Flash port behind the rocks and take out the power source. Now."

my attempt to sound firm didn't quite work out. My voice still trembled a little, making me sound fairly uncertain and a little afraid.

Zalleen either didn't notice, or his determination to save his friends and my sister won out. He set his jaw and shifted into a crouch, staring down at the levitating jade circle.

**Zalleen's POV**

I stared down at the target, forcing the little paranoid voice that jept saying, 'stay here, don't get killed down there,' into the back of my mind. "Alright, I'm going," I whispered. I shuddered a little. "Even if there's a good chance I won't come back.."

"Okay," Imyra repsonded, worry lacing her tone. "Let's hope this goes well."

"Don't get brunt to a crisp," Skydive added, smilign nervously.

"Thanks," I muttered sarcastically, steeling myself to cast the spell. "That really helps."

"No problem."

I finished the cast before I could tell him off. After a brief feeling of weightlessness, streaks of light and dark, and then the sudden pull of gravity, I was on the ground behind the ring of jade rocks.

For a moment I stood there, ears pricked. When I didn't hear any signs of immediate disaster, I cast about for what was powering the ring of shielding rocks. I spotted a glowing green stick poking from the ground, and recognized arcane symbols on it. It looked like some weird mage-ified totem, but if that wasn't the source I didn't know what else was.

I crept up to it slowly, nearly crawling, furtively glancing from side to side and then back at the totem thingy. I half expected it to just zap me when I got close, but it to my grateful surprise stayed quiet instead. Gathering arcane energy in my hands, I blasted the totme thing with it, overloading the magical item. It exploded in a flare of green, and a small shockwave knocked me back.

_Ah, hell. Something probably noticed that..._

A shadow loomed over me. I stiffened, looked up, and yelped. I rolled aside just as a jade sword nearly impaled my face.

More statues. They didn't look any more friendly than the last ones, either.

Before they could go any further initiating my death, I froze the statue's feet to the ground. It didn't look like it would hold for too long, judging from the cracks-but the ice held long enough for me to stand again and put distance between us. The statues uttered angry roars, broke the ice, and charged at me.

Their charge was prematurely interrupted. A black bear slammed into one from the side, and the jade warrior was toppled sideways, crashing into his friends with very audible crashes. One stood faster than the others and took a swipe at Imyra, only for drake talons to rake him across the face. Skydive zipped away before the irritated enemy was able to hit him. He twisted in midair and a stream of blue fire knocked the jade statue back. I let awild grin grow on my features, and raised my arms high. I spoke the words of magic, and a ball of bright arcane light was formed over me. I whistled, and Imyra, whom was trading blows with a statue, looked back at me. She spotted the orb, then shifted into a deer and bounded a few feet away.

The statues didn't really have expressions, but I felt they were confused. Just as they took a step to go after Imyra, my arcane orb settled in their midst.

Still grinning, I snapped my fingers. The orb glowed briefly and then imploded, sending the statues flying. They didn't fly far-really only a few feet. But they had still been knocked down, and more importantly, had suffered damage. Black marks and cracks now riddled them, and the statues creaked when they stood.

The arcane orb had been a idea I had gotten from Northrend, when we had destroyed a Scourge camp in Dragonblight. The orb then had been a object made of glass, but I had thought to duplicate it on a smaller scale. And it had worked, much to my delight (although in the experimentation phase things may have gotten a bit out of hand. Don't ask.)

Before the statues had recovered fully, Imyra pounced on one and began to hack at it's neck with her bear claws. With a final ram, she shattered the statue's already cracked head. Skydive fired a intense blue flame at another, causing nearly all of it to shatter. I sent arcane missiles into another, therefore ending it's existence as well.

The remaining statues charged. Imyra charged to meet them, dodging blows, shifting freely between animal forms in a expert dance of evasion. Through the flurry of blows, I could see the door of the hut. Then my gaze lifted higher, were a beam of green light had begun to grow from behind the tiny building itself.

"Keep them occupied, I'm gonna go after that light," I announced. Impulsively I ran right through the forest of statue legs, ignoring Imyra's protest. Giddy with the prospect of saving our friends from death or some other nasty fate, I ran around the side of the hut.

Right towards that green light, and the kidnapper whom I wanted to incarcerate with fire spells right now.

When the full sight engulfed my field of vision, however, I had only one thing to say, all previous thoughts momentarily cast to oblivion.

"Well shit."

**Lastraza's POV**

I grunted as I tried for the umpteenth time to twist out of my bounds. The chains had appeared from nowhere, seemingly made from energy. Then my captors had created a additional tendril of the same blue white energy, and were now dragging me along on the floor.

Only one good thing had come out of the entire process. I'd managed to work out what my captors were, or at least what they were before they'd been changed somehow. These things were former cloud serpents, like those at the Arboretum-but warped and twisted somehow. Other than the basic body structure, they looked completely different than the pure cloud serpents we had seen already.

In the end, this amounted to a bit of a dilemma for me. I was caught between pitying these corrupted cloud serpents and at the same wanting them to suffer for keeping me prisoner.

_We'd better get a lot of thanks for this. Always assuming I can get out of here and find the others at all. _

I'd barely finished the chain of thought before I was roughly flung forward. Hitting more rocky ground with a slight impact and rolling a few more feet, I had to blink and wait for things to stop spinning. Then I began to look around at my surroundings.

I was in yet another carved circle, but there was a noticeable difference here. The cloud serpents had backed away, and were now gathered in a group by the tunnel we had entered by. Instead of being ringed by them, I was now surrounded by a circle of tall stones. Carved obsidian patterns adorned them, depicting what looked like battles. Most of the forms where vaguely humanoid but carried no distinguishable features. Hovering over them all were hulking forms that had no features either, except for gaping jaws and narrowed white eyes.

The setting and carvings weren't nearly as unsettling as the fell of the place. A aura of malice was beginning to settle over me like a shroud. Wriggling uncomfortably against the magical bounds, I glanced furtively around me.

Still nothing but the stones, me, the floor, and the gathering of cloud serpents. A clatter sounded to my right, and I whipped my head to the right, hoping to see the source of the noise. The small rodent scurried away. Still nothing to justify the malice.

It had gotten stronger. Now the malice didn't feel like a shroud, but a clamp. It pressed down on my sides, making it harder to breathe and giving the impression that I had been trapped by some kind of giant snake. A snake that was constricting tighter, and tighter. The urge to pass out was starting to kindle, but I set my jaw stubbornly. Then I clenched my teeth in a defiant snarl when a black outline began to condense before me. I was going to stare this thing in the eyes, see what it wanted from me.

And more than likely, I was in for pain-either of death or torture. I didn't want either, but I was ready to take them.

**I think I'll probably end up updating once a month, but I'll try to deliver faster. Pls review, everyone (including those following but whom have left no word behind. No need for a account to review.)**


	6. Ep 2 part 4-Thwarted plot and moving on

**Disclaimer: I don't own World of Warcraft. **

_**Skydive's POV**_

I'd heard of things going from bad to worse. More than heard about it, I'd lived that situation before, about a million times in my bizarre life. Excluding the events in Uldum, this was easily a wonderful example of bad to worse.

A old pandaren woman was siting in her backyard, a small carved box in her lap. At first, this might not seem to bad-except for the far too lifelike jade statues all around her, most frozen in positions of fear. Two massive statues, both thirty feet high, were standing on either side of her. One looked like a giant hawk, the other a warrior with a one handed blade in each hand. I scowled freely. I'd already seen more than enough statues today.

To top the situation, Zalleen had stopped in his tracks. He and the old lady seemed to have locked eyes.

Furtively landing and looking about a second time, I took a very small comfort that none of the petrified people looked like out friends. I could smell their scents, faint from becoming stale, so I knew we had the right place. Now the question was were were they?

I shared a glance with Imyra, conveying a silent message between us. Zalleen seemed hypnotized, but the old lady seemed just as much in the same state. Neither of their eyes had so much as twitched in another direction.

Just when I was moving to start tracking the scents, there was a harsh cracking of jade being forced into motion. I jumped just as the jade hawk lurched at me. Two times bigger than me, it hurtled like a deadly bouler.

I spread my wings and turned the jump into a sharp glide upward, using the passing draft of the jade hawk's passing. The massive form disturbed more than enough air, and I was soon enough circling high above my enemy.

The hawk lumbered into a right turn, banking nintey degrees and then propelling inteself upward. While faster than it's first attack, the jade hawk was still slower than me I was able to dodge it's beak as the appendage snapped shut were my tail had been with a harsh clacking and grinding. Wincing, I didn't like to image what would have happened if the blow had hit. I'd probably lose my tail for good, and the hawk could more than likely shatter my spine or neck bones with that beak too.

_Wonderful._

The sarcastic thought didn't miraculously help my situation, not that I had expected it to. The jade hawk rose, then dived, and I barrel rolled away. Snapping my wings back out and flapping, I glided higher in a arch, right above the jade hawk. I opened my maw and shot a stream of focused blue fire at the spot between it's wings.

A metallic flash was all the warning I had that my plan wouldn't work. Above the treeline, the sun was glinting on armor-conformed for the bird, fitted across it's back from head to the base of the tail. A similar getup was probably on the front part of him, too.

I cursed in Draconic, then had to flip backward and dive when the jade bird whirled and rocketed at me. It's taloned feet lashed out, moving far faster than I had bargained for. I growled when one talon nicked the translucent blue membrane of a wing, and another claw scratched my lower back. A thin red line appeared on my sea blue skin. I banked left and dove slightly, flapping, to put some distance between me and the bird. I heard the heavy sounds of it's pursuit, then changed direction again and dove for one of the taller trees.

This thing was big, angry, much stronger than me, and thoroughly devoted to the creepy pandaren lady-I could tell that from the vigor it was showing. But it's size and strength made it slow. I could use that, and use it well.

And the trees would be my aid.

Looping gracefully upwards once, I dove at a completely vertical angle. The jade hawk clumsily copied my movement, diving as well. Midway through my dive, I snapped my wings back out and arched sharply back upward. Flapping once and folding my wings close again, I shot between two massive stalks of bamboo.

Predictably the jade bird followed. There was a brief creaking, then a long ominous one, followed shortly by two loud splintering noises. A brief glance back confirmed what my senses had unfortunately been telling me-the bamboo hadn't been much of a holdup.

My spine prickled with a cold feeling of unease. Then a rolling front of air washed over my back, heralding the approach of something big. I could sense magical energy carried on the air front, and the big something wasn't hard to guess. It must have been the aftermath of some kind of magical speed buff.

My unease wasn't unfounded. The thud of giant jade wing sounded, and I rolled just in time to avoid getting clouted on the head by it. I veered right to dodge the bone shattering beak, then futilely tried to use fire again.

The fire had as little effect as before, besides momentarily blinding my pursuer. It was enough for a burst of speed to put distance between us, and for me to locate a thick broughed tree with two branches just wide enough for me. It looked way more sturdy than the bamboo, but there was every chance it wouldn't be any more effective as a trap. But since hampering and trapping was my only option, I'd need to go for it.

I glanced over my wing as I be-lined for the tree. The jade bird's magic had probably worn off, as it was moving slowly again. If what I had learned from watching Zalleen at work, it was that some spells often had a short period of time before they could be used again.

The jade bird's speed spell had a unknown timer. I could only guess it was about a minute and a half, maybe less or more. I'd need to be careful.

Flapping once, I leveled out and dipped into a steep dive. The bird roughly copied, wings creaking. Clapping my wings close, I shot between the branches. A half a minute later, the jade bird rammed itself between the branches. It thrashed crazily, discharging thousands of leaves. I spun and landed on another thick branch, thick enough for a drake as light and slim as me.

Still primed to fly, I observed my handiwork. The branches were creaking, and I could see telltale cracks, but it looked like I would actually have time to think of something.

Fire was out. I had no talent for any magic other than shapeshifting. I didn't have the bulk to smash the jade hawk. Compared to other male drakes, in fact, I'm pretty scrawny.

My eyes went to either side of the tree the hawk was stuck in. maybe I could trap it further. With no trees close enough there, I panned my gaze further out, locating a grove of strong looking trees not terribly far away. I didn't have much in physical strength, but I could muster up some really wicked fire.

I smirked and took off for the trees even as the jade hawk broke out from it's constraints behind me. Spinning and diving, I shot between the grove of trees. The statue followed several feet behind.

I flipped so my back faced the ground, and shot a volley of high speed fire bursts at the trees. They hit on target, and the trunks burned and splintered, creaking and falling in a tumult of noise of my pursuer. The jade hawk screeched and futilely flailed, then was crushed by the impact of several thousand pounds of wood.

The trees settled. A silence fell, a pall of uneasy silence. After it went of for a few minutes, I landed and cautiously inched closer. Peering though the fallen boughs and scattered wood, I saw that the jade hawk's eyes were indeed dark. All hints of artificial life had fled them.

Breathing a sigh of relief, I sat back on my haunches and let my wings completely relax, causing them to drop at my sides. I stared at my handiwork, deciding a needed a little bit of a breather.

**Imyra's POV**

I leaped left when the jade warrior tried to stomp on me. Taking advantage of my cat form, I dug my hind legs into the ground and dashed forward, right between the statue's legs and out behind him. With lightning speed I shifted, hurling the weight of bear paws at the statue's legs.

My blows hit, but only caused the enemy to stumble. With a scratchy growl it turned on me, angling a two handed sword and swinging it. From a few years of experience and watching Atlanta fight, I knew what to expect and was instantaneously back in cat form, jumping the arch of the sword.

The cold metal passed uncomfortably close, and I yelped when the blade grazed the ruft of fur on my tail tip. Landing lightly, I streaked for the only cover I could see-namely the old hut.

I slammed into the door, thinking it had looked slightly ajar to begin with. I was proven right when the door swung open easily from the shove of my shoulder. Digging my claws into the wooden planks, I stopped my headlong rush and crouched under what I felt was a table. Hoping my black fur hid me to a fair extent, I held my breath and peered at the doorway.

For a few tense moments there was silence. My haunch and shoulder muscles tensed, ready at any moment. I knew enough to realize I probably wasn't safe, but I did wonder if the stone warrior didn't want to wreck his master's house.

Predictably I was proven wrong. Heavy footsteps heralded the arrival of the jade warrior as it heedlessly charged at the wall. The frail hut but up practically no resistance, and pieces of splintered wood showered everywhere. Something hit the table I was under, maybe a beam, and the piece of furniture started to crack.

I cursed. My curse changed to a strangled cry when the table broke sooner than I had thought it would, dumping the beam onto my back.

The heavy length of wood hit my back hard-not enough to break it, but enough for the impact to leave excruciating bruises behind. I shifted to bear form and lunged to my feet, bucking the beam off and weaving a quick healing spell to dull the pain. I snapped back into cat form and dodged as more fallen wood tumbled down. Some came down spinning, impaling themselves into the wooden floor. One such beam grazed my shoulder, and I hastily changed course when a second fallen timber nearly knocked my brains out.

The statue stomped about in the midst of the wreckage, further dislodging the shack's contents. Vials of liquid tipped over and shattered, most of it smelling either sickeningly sweet, or nose killing awful. I skidded through the spilled concoctions a few times, sending droplets scattering every which way.

The statue roared and brought a fist down. I avoided the blow, thanking my current form's balance since I was able to keep my footing on the shifting floor. I continued to dodge rapid slices of the statue's sword, darting left, right, left, left, right again, sometimes jumping. During the entire duration, I was busily thinking.

This thing was made of stone, and I didn't have Zalleen or Atlanta's helpful frost spells to fracture the jade. It was two times bigger than any other jade constructs we'd seen, and I'd already tried everything I could think of to cripple it. None of it had been to any avail, and my claws glanced right off when I tried to strike.

Another beaker shattered as it came close to me, and I hissed and drew back when the liquid stung. The skin and fur smoked a little, as if from a burn. I scrambled away from it, in time to see the liquid corroding a deep hole in the floor at a rapid rate.

More rattling drew my attention. The shelf the bottle had fallen from was full of more, all the same color as what was currently eating the floor.

_It mist be some kind of acidic venom. Really potent, too...i might've just found how to end this._

The statue's thundering step heralded a attempt to stomp me. Instead of leaping sideways, I leaped up, shifting into my bird form. Screeching and flapping around the statue's head, I sought to attract it's attention.

It worked. The statue reached out to grab me, and I spun away, right at the vials. The statue hunched lower in a attempt to follow me, and the jade mogu warrior's head slammed into the vials.

They shattered all over it's skull. A furious hissing and a loud bellow, along with splatters of acid, showed me my plan had been pulled off. Just to be safe, I winged a further distance away and turned to look.

I couldn't help but wince. The jade being's head was a mess of holes, all of them getting deeper. It only took a little longer for the head to eventually crumble, and the animated statue feel to the ground. It didn't move again.

Just when I was starting to breathe easier, a blinding flash came from were I had originally started the fight at-the location of Zalleen and the old lady.

_Oh shit._

**Zalleen's POV**

Even Skydive flew off with the jade hawk on his tail and Imyra started her brutal combat against the jade warrior, I was still standing exactly were I had been before. To others me and the old pandaren lady seemed to be having a staring contest, but the reality ran much deeper.

The person before me was dangerous. Not from physical strength, no, but in the spellcaster way. I could feel eddies of arcane energy coming from her, spreading out like ripples in a pond. The arcanum waves brushed my bare forearms and my face. Instinctively I would flex my hands and brace my feet, unconsciously trying to bend the energy to my own use. I had only done this a few times, in the icy cold wastes of Colderra, by Blue central-the Nexus.

(flashback)

_the cold air bit even through my heavy cloak. Miserably I huddled inside it, while Emala peered into the distance with her hawkish vision. Pierceclaw didn't look any happier-he was scratching at the ground and occasionally let out a small sneeze. The raptor would cast a irate look at the snow and then growl at it. _

"_I hate it too, mon," I said with sympathy. I looked at Emala pleadingly. "Why are we here again?"_

_Emala huffed in annoyance. "The Nexus War provides us a chance to get hired plenty, and you complain? We're here to eliminate _

The memory was a little less vivid than it had been some years ago, but I paid that no heed. I tried to remember what I had felt when repelling the blue drake's magic. I had felt it press against my palms, the arcane energy cold and hot at the same time.

If I could make a wave, in what other ways could I influence arcane?

I caught the gleam in the witch's eyes just in time to duck as she launched a arcane blast at me. It hissed a little and had a green tint, and when the bolt struck a bunch of tall grass, it went rigid.

_That must be her weird ability to petrify people..._

My eyes went to the box by the witch's feet. I had the most uncanny feeling I could hear voices from it.

A uneasy feeling pricked at my scalp. I had just enough time to throw up a shield of arcane magic in time to block yet another attempt to paralyze me. Despite that, I was knocked backward and had to use my staff to vault back to my feet. I flashed away in a brief white spark as I was attacked yet again, the spell thankfully missing. I reappeared again, a little out of breath.

The old pandaren lady cackled loudly. It was a nasty noise, sounding somewhere between gravel grinding together and glass cracking. Her eyes gleamed nastily, and now that I looked closer, she was remarkably bony, especially for a pandaren. Even a old one.

"Some potential in ya," she remarked, her eyes shining a almost insectlike black. Her tone of voice wasn't complimentary, though. Rather, it was dripping with false sincerity. "For some young fool."

Naturally this just prompted me to say something back. "I'd say a young being like me has a lot more potential than a old bag of skin and bones."

The witch growled and hurled a green orb of green fire at me. I whirled my staff and thrust it right at the ball, using a wedge of my own magic to stop and dissipate the orb before it even reached me. I smirked, and the old lady narrowed her eyes contemplatively.

"See?" I mocked. It probably wasn't a good idea to do so, but I had gotten caught up in my own excitement.

"This bag of skin and bones,' as you say, has more than enough skill to whither you into less," the witch responded after a moment with a almost reptilian hiss. She spread er hands and green runes glowed.

Looking around for a moment, I couldn't see anything new. Just when I was about to inform the old lady her spell hadn't worked, green glows caught my eye. Ringing me were seven glowing arcane trails on the ground. As I watched, they began to rise from the ground, gaining a translucent form, like tree roots being revealed by receding dirt in fast forward.

The green things left the ground abruptly and rose into the air in synchronized, swift serpentine motions. They gained the features of fangs and diamond heads almost instantly, flicking rail thin tongues.

"The hell!"

To say I had yelled that would be a understatement. I had practically bellowed it, and used all my available breath to do so.

The arcane manifestations writhed around me, and began to take turns snapping at me. The actions were completely random, removing the possibility of predicting the next strike. I ended up jumping and dodging like some kind of cricket, jump managing to avoid getting eaten by arcane snakes. If they had stomachs to send me to, anyway.

_I can't believe I admitted she could do something so impressive. Or wondered if energy beings had stomachs. _

Any feeling of 'impressive,' or wondering if the snakes had internal organs-was lost when I had to duck to avoid getting my head snapped off. Now I was just annoyed, and steadily going from annoyed to angry.

"ENOUGH!" I shouted, my voice deepened by rage. I raised my staff high, trailing one hand in the air. Latching onto the arcane currents that had woven the witch's snakes, I gave them a yank in my direction. The snakes jerked with it, and the old panderan stumbled back a little. Uncertainty, maybe even a little fear, was starting to break though her facade.

A snarl heralded the launch of her next spell. Swiftly I brought my staff down to touch the treads I had grasped, sending out a pulse of my own magic along them. He pulse ran through the treads and into the snakes, causing them to shatter and dissipate into whips of green. Then I held out both hand and staff, sending out my own spell to meet the witch's own-a arcane bolt.

The green and white clashed. It was a standstill, and if I was to break it anytime soon, I needed to take advantage of bending the magic in the air to my will. Bracing my feet against the ground, I braced continued to channel the arcane bolt with one hand, while using my staff and waving it. I imagined the magic in the air going from loose threads to a collected mass, just above the top of my staff.

After those few seconds, the staff grew warm in my hand. Short electric pulses seemed to run down the wood, resonating into my palm and down my arm.

_Now. _

Lowering the staff, I stopped channeling the previous spell and loosed the collected magic. A tidal wave of crackling blue energy left the staff as a beam, becoming wider and faster, and more and more powerful.

The wave slammed into the old lady. She screamed, a sound that grated my ears worse than her laughter. It was of the pain of losing, anger and desperation. I had to close my eyes as the arcane energies vanished in a flash of light.

When I opened them again, I beheld quite the sight. The pandaren lady was laying flat on her back, several yards from her original location. A circular, scorched swath of ground was between her and me, the strange box gaping open in the middle. And the forms currently coughing and standing around the box were very familiar-and exactly who I had wanted to find.

I heard a acidic hissing and something massive collapsing from behind me, then the flutter of wings as Imyra shot past me. I ran and followed her, even as the beating of bigger wings came from behind me. A blue forelimb caught me in the back, rocketing me forward with my netherwing friend even as the blow knocked the breath from my chest.

This was forgotten when we skidded to a halt before a disoriented Atlanta and Stormwing, who looked like he was just waking up from a nap. Skydive let out a pitched keen that sounded far more happy than sad. He licked Atlanta enthusiastically on the face, knocking her helm askew. While she blinked in confusion, Skydive threw his wings and forelegs around Stormwing in a drake sized hug. Stormwing grunted and winced, but Skydive, still glowing happily, didn't seem to notice.

I left them to their embrace and charged at my own target. I caught the said hunter up in my arms, ignoring the fact she was a few inches taller than me. I found myself hugging two tauren-Imyra had gotten there first and had wasted no time entrapping her sister in a very tight but loving embrace.

"You're not dead, mon!" I shouted it in my relief, my eyes burning a little for some reason. "You all aren't dead-"

"You aren't dead," Imyra seemed to have been reiterating the same words over and over again. Her eyes looked moist. "You aren't dead," she continued in a very quiet voice.

Emala looked at her younger sister with a tenderness that I had practically never seen before. She ran her hand through Imyra's hair in a comforting way. Imyra sniffled slightly, then looked down in embarrassment.

"It's fine to cry a little," Emala chuckled. Tender moment gone, she said briskly, "Now can you please let go?" We obliged without question. "We're still missing-"

"Lastraza!" The bellowing cry of anguish came from right behind us. Stormwing was rearing with his wings spread wide, desperately shouting the name into the sky. A slightly scared looking Skydive was backing away from him. "Where are you? Lastraza!"

**Emala's POV**

I winced when Stormwing's distraught cries rang through the forest around us. If he didn't stop, it could attract unwanted attention-from either remnants of the witch's forces or the stirred up wildlife.

Instantly Imyra set about trying to calm Stormwing down, while Skydive helpfully pinned him to the grassy ground. Or at least, he tried to help that way. When a pained yelp was the result, Skydive hastily withdrew.

Regardless of the inflicted pain, Imyra had gotten her opening. Stormwing lay on the ground with his wings splayed out, staring into space with a melancholy look. But a core of determination was certainly growing, too, if the fiery look in Stormwing's eyes was anything to go by. Imyra was kneeling beside him now, speaking softly in comfort and inspecting his side.

Zalleen had been watching the whole scene, but now turned his attention to me even as I scratched Pierceclaw behind his spiky crest. The raptor crooned, while Skydive awkwardly sidled up, looking a little guilty.

"I didn't mean to hurt him..."

"He'll be fine," I responded sharply. "We need to get to business. We need to find Lastraza-can you pick up her scent?"

Skydive shook his head worriedly. "I didn't come across it anywhere close to here. And the fighting could have scattered any manner of scents around to cover it up-they're all one big blur now."

I sighed regretfully. "Would've made things easier..." I grumbled.

"So, now what?" Zalleen asked, a dejected look on his face. He looked somewhat haggard, and was leaning on his staff as a support. That wasn't something I had seen him do often.

Putting it out of mind for now, I responded as my eyes went to the old pandaren lady who was still flat on her back in the grass. She was only now stirring, and before she could gather her wits I stated a short answer.

"We interrogate the only source we may have. I'll be damned if I didn't believe this witch had something to do with all this."

With a few swift strides, reveling in being out of the darkness and confines of the box, I was standing over the witch. I whistled, and Pierceclaw ran up. He pinned the captive's arms down with both his hind legs, snarling in her face.

The pandaren lady blinked, then snarled back. She attempted to kick, only for me to step on one leg. I exerted pressure, not enough to break anything with my heavy hoof. Of course, things could still break-but I'd need to see if it was worth the effort first.

"Let me ask you a question," I said in a very calm voice that did not match the simmering anger I was feeling. Stormwing probably cared for Lastraza in a much deeper way than the rest of us, but as a fundamental friend and part of our group we all needed her back.

The witch snorted. "And what would that be, eh?"

I cocked my head, studying her thin frame. Taking up one of my glaives in one hand, I leaned closer. "Which do you fear more," I asked in my, 'better talk or else,' voice that made even my allies shudder. "Dying, or seeing your own guts and dying _slowly_? I won't hesitate to do either if you don't talk, lady, and tell us were our red drake friend is."

For a few moments the panderen just gaped at me. Then she found her voice. "You-You'd-i don't know were this red version of that green thing over there is."

The stuttering sentence told me two things. One, she was lying and afraid. Two, the 'green thing' referred to was clearly Stormwing, from whom a growl was heard.

That was all I needed to know. Kneeling down even more, I braced the edge of the glaive against the neck of our captive. I could see her throat move in a nervous swallow.

"Now. Care to speak?"

More defiant looks mixed with fear. I made to slice down the old lady's chest and stomach with the glaive, only for her to howl in fear.

"Fine! Fine. I'll tell you.

"That's what I thought..."

_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

Faster than I would have thought, we found the place the witch had spoken of-a old looking archway, styled in the same archaic way most of the ruins we had seen in Pandaria had been. There were ruts in the dirt, and on closer inspection we confirmed that it was Lastraza who had been dragged down here.

Stormwing looked ready to charge down instantly. He took a aggressive stance and started to, only for me to issue a sharp protest.

"Hold it! Look at the situation first." I cast him a thoughtful glance, noting that his anger seemed far more focused-and much more intense-than I had seen in some time. "Imyra, care to scope it out for us?"

Imyra nodded. She had been gazing at Stormwing too, but now removed her gaze and shifted into her cat form. Slipping into stealth, she crept up to the archway and vanished inside.

We waited a few minutes. During the course of them all, Stormwing got more and more antsy. By now he was pacing back and forth, every now and then partly flaring his wings. Imyra had partly healed his injuries so he could fight, albeit hindered, but I was starting to wonder if he'd manage to undo that work soon. His frustration seemed beyond the worry of a dear friend that the rest of us were feeling. I smiled inwardly. All of us, besides Lastraza and Stormwing, knew exactly why our storm drake was getting so worked up.

"Calm down," I attempted to sooth him. I awkwardly walked up to Stormwing and laid a hand on his shoulder, knowing that comforting people has never been my strong point. Stormwing did stop, but he kept his burning gaze on the archway, tail still twitching.

True to her word, Imyra showed up again not a second later. She left stealth and padded up to us.

"Anything?" I asked her.

Imyra angled her cat head toward the archway. "Not in the immediate area. But futher down, there are guards..." she trailed off.

"Yeah? Of what kind?"

"Cloud serpents. Not the winged snake kind, but the serpentine dragon kind. There's something off about them, but I'm not sure what. There was a presence down there, too. I didn't like it..."

She fell silent again, staring thoughtfully at the archway with both unease and a growing concern.

"Creepy sounding guys, mon," Zalleen chirped. He rotated his staff in one hand once, grinning. The weariness was still there, but it looked like he'd rested enough to recover his cheerful demeanor.

I nodded in response. Turning grimly to the archway, I hefted my longbow, preparing to take it from my shoulder. "Skydive, be prepared to fight on the ground. There might not be room to fly for some time."

Skydive nodded, looking determined. "I'll manage."

"Then let's-"

the moment of the charge was decided for me when Stormwing's thunderous roar sounded, and our normally level headed friend went charging through the archway, tearing up the ground with his claws. Imyra yelped and jumped aside, still in cat form. The fur of her mane and on her spine was standing up from shock.

For a moment I absorbed this suddenly rash action, looking as the ravaged dirt. Then I set off at a run, Pierceclaw on my heels, following Stormwing. Atlanta never missed a beat, her plate clad form clanking along next to me.

"That was...different," my oldest friend muttered in her hoarse, rarely used voice.

"Yes," I agreed, perturbed despite myself. "Very different indeed."

We entered a tunnel, the sides lined with smooth rock. A crashing sound from below, along with the blue flash of lightning, only urged us to run faster.

We arrived on the scene of complete and utter chaos. Stormwing was comparable to a demon, charging back and forth between foes. Already several black cloud serpents lay scattered everywhere, either dead or incapacitated. With a closer look, I felt what Imyra had felt-that there was something wrong with all of them, besides the obvious injuries that our friend had inflicted.

Stormwing's roar drew my attention back to him. I winced when I saw him ram a shoulder in a cloud serpent, crushing it against the wall. It's high screech didn't cover the crack of bones splintering, even as Stormwing whirled on another. His heavy paw flashed, his wings flared, and the other black cloud serpent was slammed into the hard floor. The stone cracked, and Stormwing's claws pierced his enemy's neck even as the neck bone was shattered. The dark brown talons were already stained with the dark red of blood.

Stormwing had obviously gotten a lot of progress in very little time, but I wasn't sure I liked this downright murderous side of him. After this, I would be happy never to see it again. He whirled once more, claws an arch that tore another foe's throat out. The cloud serpent fell in a mangled mess.

A roar and a bright white flame drew my eye. Darting away from the offending fire, I whirled and fired. My explosive arrows hit the charging black cloud serpent in the neck and chest. Shrieking, it careened away from me and ran into the wall with a crushing impact. Even as the body went slithering back down onto the floor, I was ducking to avoid the charge of a second serpent. I whipped out a glaive and sliced the weapon down it's neck. A spray of blood pattered on me, and I had to dance out of the way of the convulsing body. It twitched once, then lay still. The corpse provided a good shelter, and I jumped behind it to snipe at another foe, that had jut breathed more white fire at me. This one agilely twisted it's serpentine body, and the shots missed. It opened a blinding white maw and tried to bore down on me again.

That was a fatal mistake. In less than a half a second, I had fired a explosive arrow right into the corrupt cloud serpent's gullet. Eyes wide, the thing jerked and exhaled black smoke as the arrow imploded. I barely spared it a glance as the creature fell limp close to my current shelter.

Scanning the tunnel for my other companions, I quickly located them. Skydive was fighting by half flying, half jumping, using pure momentum to tear the cloud serpents from the air. Slim as he was, the netherwing drake was still bigger than the serpents. Currently he was in a tangled, squirming claw to claw fight with one, while a few other cloud serpents nipped at him. Then one opened it's mouth to breathe fire.

The action didn't go unnoticed by the target. Skydive opened his mouth and shot a narrow blue stream of fire at the would-be fire breather. It squealed as it's scales and soft belly was blackened and started to peel. The serpent engaged with Skydive hesitated and looked at it's ally. The mistake became clear when Skydive's head shot forward, and his jaws closed around it's thin neck. He applied pressure and jerked the serpent's head sharply to the side, snapping the neck and instantly killing the creature.

Three more converged on Skydive just when he was on his feet again. He yelped and leaped aside when they attempted to dive bomb him. The attack as a whole was a bad idea-one serpent had it's head lopped clean off by Atlanta's frost strike. My arrows peppered the second's underbelly, exploding in bursts of smoke and flame. Both serpents fell with shrieks. The third was blasted by Skydive's fire, the last sprung upon by Imyra. She savagely mauled it, using her cat form's capabilities to their greatest.

Just further down the passage than us, the eerie chants of magic could be heard. Spinning his staff, Zalleen grinned impishly as a hail of ice shards, big as daggers, rained down from above. The shards pierced several enemies, feeling them like a flock of fowl taken down by well aimed bullets.

When nothing new came at us, we took the chance to take a breather that only really lasted a few seconds. Then, hearing Stormwing's roar moving away, we ran after our rampaging friend.

We found chamber already in much the same state as the tunnel, with the exception of two things-a giant black outline steadily growing bigger, and a panting storm drake that suddenly looked very worse for wear. He was still moving forward, but at a slower and more labored pace. It looked as if each step hurt him. Just beyond him I could see Lastraza's familiar from, struggling in some kind of magical chain binding.

Running closer, I stopped and glanced at Stormwing. From his hunched posture and pained expression, my earlier assumptions seemed proven right. He'd been fighting madly, and the earlier injuries could-had-opened up again. Stormwing might've made them even worse, too.

"Zalleen!" I shouted, pointing at the chains. "Break them!"

He nodded and ran up to them. Lastraza looked at all of us with a relieved smile, but it faded fast. Even as Zalleen cast a counterspell to the chains, she had already bounded over to Stormwing. A green glow enveloped his ribs, and Stormwing blinked and stood property.

"We need to get out of here!" she demanded, casting a wary glance at the black shade. It was starting to fade, but was wearing a oddly content expression in newly formed white eyes.

We'd just barely made it out of the archway before a loud boom heralded the residual smoke of what looked and felt like shadow magic.

**Lastraza's POV**

I'd felt dizzy with relief, but worry too.

Relief that I wasn't being used as a power source anymore. Worry about just what that black shade had been, and what it would do now.

The dark thoughts fled momentarily when I was bowled into by a bulkier body and wrapped in green wings flickering with blue stripes. Stormwing nuzzled me warmly. A unintentional purr left my throat as I let him. A warm feeling in my chest suddenly making me uncomfortable, I tried to find a escape avenue. "Thank the gods. I can't ever be more grateful for you all coming for me." Gratitude expressed, I slid carefully out of Stormwing's embrace. He sat back on his haunches, looking both disappointed but relieved. "No problem," he said softly, looking at the ground.

"Oh yeah, we awesome," Zalleen whooped. He clapped once and grinned. "That old lady and her creaky lawn gnomes couldn't stop us."

"Neither could the overgrown snakes," Skydive added. The two cracked up, while Imyra pinched the bridge of her nose in exasperation. Atlanta was looking contemplatively at Emala, who was staring at the archway with narrowed eyes.

"Let's get our money and leave," she said abruptly. Everyone feel silent at her tone. "What I saw in there didn't bode well."

"Whatever it was," I said quietly, "It was-is-evil, and corruptive. I don't know if it's still it there..." I shuddered, the forest air suddenly cold. "But I get the feeling we'll see it again, one way or another..."

_**Preview of next up: the Karsarang hunt arch. A hunting competition turns deadly with the incursion of murderous saurok. **_

**The little preview thing (and a longer chapter) is basically my way of apologising for the long wait. I'll still be updating once a month, but I'm going to try and be a bit faster. The shade will be back, but not for a little while. **

**Pls leave a review :)**


	7. Ep 3, p1-Karsarang Hunt Ambush

**Emala's POV**

"A hunting competition?"

"That's right. If ya'll follow the cliff that marks the border of the Valley of Four Winds a little day or two south, you'll come across a tauren encampment," the pandaren trader finished his sentence with a yellow toothed grin. He flipped the coins I had handed him in one hand before pocketing them and climbing onto his wagon. Urging the yak pulling it on, he began to trundle out of our sight.

I contemplatively stood there for a bit longer, staring after him. It wasn't the merchant himself I was mulling over-we'd gotten the supplies we needed from him. Rather, it was the very attractive lure of a hunting competition.

The last one I had been in had been a very long time ago, back in the oddity of Northrend known as Scholazar Basin. I'd won it, if narrowly. The prospect of another one to thrill my blood was very, very temping. I had been killing plenty of things recently, but not for sport. It would make a nice change.

Absentmindedly noting a nudge against my arm, I handed my portion of the supplies to the said being. I was met with a squawk of surprise. I looked beside me and saw Pierceclaw with the supply sacks lying at his feet, the contents spilled around him. They hadn't bee ruined, wrapped in suitable packaging as they were. It still made for a comical sight, however-especially since one sack was dangling from Pierceclaw's nose horn.

Zalleen cracked up, pounding his staff butt on the ground a few times. "Nice one, you two!"

Skydive sniggered as well, and the two high fived-made possible by Skydive currently being in his blood elf guise. I shot them both a annoyed look, but for once it wasn't too heated. Mainly since the current situation was just a little humorous to me, too.

Imyra exchanged a knowing look with Atlanta. Our Death Knight cracked out one of her rare smiles, and Imyra looked back at me with the fondness of a little sister. "I know that look-you're excited."

I openly grinned in response, already looking south along the cliff that divided the Valley of Four Winds from the Karsarang Wilds. "You bet. I need some sport-all this fighting against evil stuff is getting tiring."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Stormwing began to carefully pile the dropped supplies onto his own back, while Atlanta tied the stuff down with ropes, making sure to do it in a way comfortable to him ith practiced ease. Stormwing never seemed to mind the job of acting as the figurative 'pack mule,' but had sharply reprimanded anyone who actually called him that.

"Yes," Lastraza said thoughtfully, coming up beside me. "I'd be interested to see this." She chuckled a little. "Maybe I can get some real rest."

I wryly smiled back, both of us knowing this could be fairly unlikely. Then we settled into our usual flight arrangement. Lastraza led the formation of drakes, with Stormwing impressively keeping up just behind. Skydive flew right beside Lastraza, only a little bit behind her a a fair distance away. Imyra flew above us in her bird form.

The passenger arrangement had undergone changes since some time ago-now Zalleen preferred to ride on Skydive's back. It was perhaps a blessing for Lastraza, since the two eccentric among our number could converse with actual interest. Atlanta rode her skeletal griffin to my left. Pierceclaw had started hitching rides on Stormwing, since he could take the extra weight better than Lastraza or Skydive. I had taken to riding Lastraza.

The conversation match up worked both ways. Us two could talk about useful things instead of pointless ones.

Despite that, I hadn't really talked for the past hour, more lost in my thoughts than connected to the world around me. I was vaguely aware of Skydive and Zalleen laughing about something, and raptor snores coming from Stormwing's back over the rush of the wind.

There was one other reason had taken up this idea. The hunting competition would hopefully distract me from constantly worrying about the dreams. I hadn't though about them since the ship, but with the recent events they had come back with sharp clarity. One of them had seemed to come true so far-the dream about the jade statues and pool of water had come true. What I had dismissed as mere dreams didn't seem like such now.

Which meant, there was every chance that the black serpent from the dreams was something we could run across, but I had no idea how or when. Even worse than that, Ernar had been in the dream.

Our experiences in Uldum still made me shudder. We had come very close to dying in that Titan complex several times. The one relieving thing had been that Ernar had been beaten and banished, but...

_"Ernar seems to despise mortals and judge them wrongly. It would be far more of a punishment for him to live on...but not as a dragonkin."_

Those had been the words spoken by the goddess we had encountered, Nessyria, that had concerned Ernar's fate after he had been defeated. I had never wondered about where the former drake was now, but now I did. And it didn't make me at all at ease. Even stripped of his dragonkin abilities, there was no way of knowing what kind of damage our old enemy could do.

"Are you alright?"

Apparently my silence hadn't gone unnoticed. Lastraza's question contained a genuine concern I couldn't help but answer to. "I'm not sure, actually."

She glanced back at me with concern in her yellow eyes, the concern of a healer for their cherished patient. The day after our conflict with the jade witch and the dark manifestation, we had chosen to travel some distance and then rest. Despite her brief rush of energy from being freed running out, the red drake had wanted to heal everyone's wounds first. She had finished fixing Stormwing's before lapsing into a incredibly deep sleep that we couldn't shake her from until the next day-today, in other words. Her action had truly shown just how dedicated Lastraza was to keeping us alive. It was a dedication I greatly valued, especially since it would be hard to find anywhere else.

Now, in the present, Lastraza's eye ridge furrowed in confusion as she tried to make sense of my answer. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Maybe she's just starting to feel old?" Zalleen joked-or rather, tried to joke and only got a laugh out of Skydive. Everyone else just stared at him. My glare could have set fire to grass even in the rain.

"That is not the reason," I stated through gritted teeth. "And if you value your life-"

Skydive yelped and stuttered slightly in flight. Zalleen flinched and averted his eyes, sheepishly fiddling the the hem of his robe. "Uh, right. Not what I meant."

Imyra dipped lower until she was right above us. Then she dove down and pecked Zalleen sharply on the head with her beak. "Don't jab about age!" she squawked.

"Ow!"

Atlanta snorted a little in what could only be a tinge of amusement.

I sent Zalleen a predatory grin. "See? That was a terrible joke."

"Instead of mocking people, how about you actually listen," Stormwing rumbled from behind us. "It would be a lot more useful."

"Pah," Zalleen snorted, whirling his staff in one hand. I laughed when he fumbled it and whacked himself on the head. "Ouch!"

"That's the second time in the last minute or two you've said that," Skydive commented. He grinned toothily. "Could try for a bit of vocal variety, my friend."

"Shut up," Zalleen sniggered.

"You know, you're already braindead," I snipped, still burning from the earlier comment. "Don't make it worse for yourself by causing more brain damage."

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry for the jab," Zalleen amended. I was just starting to believe him when he supplied a follow up comment. "At least, not that old-"

"That's it, I'm killing you myself-"

"Imyra, shield me!"

"No way!"

"Ouch!"

"Look out!"

by the time Stormwing's shout of alarm registered, all three drakes had stopped flying altogether, and were hovering in one giant writhing cluster while me and Zalleen began trying to strangle each other, while everyone else was bickering and trying to avoid collisions. In one way the tussle felt good, being a method of stress relief. In another, it was bad since it blindsided us to approaching danger.

As it turned out, what interrupted us wasn't all too dangerous-but had it been, the slip could have cost us, and I would never stop cursing myself for it.

A series of sudden bangs caused Lastraza to yelp and lurch. I heard what sounded like fibers scratching against her scales, and twisted in place to see that a broad net had tangled itself around us. We started to fall, spinning uncontrollably, and I heard excited whoops from somewhere below as Lastraza's frame crashed through a thick canopy. Twigs and leaves rained down around us, not helping to establish which way was up and which way was down.

"Look at that, we got ourselves a rare beastie, boys!"

my first thought was dwarf, but a quick and blurred glance at the figures below convinced me otherwise. Unless dwarfs had suddenly gotten a lot bigger.

Somehow Lastraza righted herself, managing to spread her wings enough to achieve a steep glide. She opened her maw and breathed a jet of fire. The figures below scattered, yelping in shock.

There was no more time to think about them. I gripped Lastraza's horns tightly, flattening myself as much as possible against her neck and preparing for impact. It came as expected, Lastraza making a rough and messy landing in the smoldering patch of vines. She began to tear the net off with her teeth, while I cut even more of it away with a few swipes of my glaives.

More crashing heralded the arrival of the rest of our group. Stormwing landed with enough of a impact to cause a huge wave of displaced air, his demeanor all anger and protectiveness. Atlanta was standing beside him with runeblade in hand, Zalleen beside her with his staff. He was grim faced now, contrary to the cheery visage of a few moments ago. Skydive was standing beside him, braced almost like a cat. Imyra was perched on one of his horns.

"Two times in one day," Lastraza grumbled. "Does everything have it out for me?" she finished in exasperation.

Feeling my own anger growing, I leaped from her back and in one fast motion had drawn my bow, arrow strung. The group of pandaren looked visibly intimidated now, some maybe even blanching at our outward appearance of force.

There was only one who appeared undaunted. The panderen was male, with brown striped white fur like a tiger. His eyes were a penetrating black, and before we knew it he was sauntering up to us with an easy, loping pace. A faint and relaxed smile adorned his snout, but I noted that a crossbow was within easy reach, slung loosely over one shoulder. Despite all appearances, I didn't believe for a second that this bowman was a clueless being.

In fact, underestimation could be a graver error.

We regarded each other intently for a few moments. It was a mutual act of sizing each other up, trying to judge intentions, strengths, even weaknesses.

"Why shoot us down?" I asked abruptly, warily watching the being before me.

He looked at Lastraza, then back at me with what I swore was a sheepish expression. "Yeah, bout that...thought that it was just a rare beastie-"

"I'm not a beast," Lastraza inserted calmly.

"Right," the panderen amended, "Sorry bout that. Didn't quite see that there were others with you two, or that the red one had a rider, till we shot the net. Hope you can forgive us. Just tryin' to practice for the hunting competition, see."

That caught my attention. I lowered my bow, raising a hand in the well used signal to stand down. I heard the thunk of Zalleen resting the butt of his staff on the ground, while Stormwing and Skydive released their primed breath weapons in harmless exhalations. The telltale noise of a runeblade sliding back into a sheath sounded as well. Pierceclaw stopped growling beside me and took on a more relaxed pose.

The other hunter-for that was what I was finally able to identify him as-followed both the sounds and movements with a alert, quick glance. Then his attention was back on me.

"We heard of this competition," I supplied, in answer to the shift of focus. "That was the whole reason we were here in the first place. So who's running it?"

The subject of my questioning threw his head back and laughed heartily. "Why me, of course. Jinir Stoutpaw, I be. The rules are under my jurisdiction," he finished, a lopsided smile now in place.

I blinked, digesting the information. It was a very good thing I had held of attacking, obviously-it would have been a error in about a million ways.

"Right," Zalleen quipped, popping up beside me and giving a thumbs up. "When da we get to start hunting stuff, eh?"

"We?" I said slowly, glancing at the mage from the corner of my eye. "Since when have you been interested in this?"

"It sounds fun, mon," Zalleen replied, exaggeratedly laying a hand on his chest and prompting a eyeroll from me. "I can't have a little fun?"

"Well, I'm joining too, then," Imyra announced, walking up beside me. She smiled gently and lay a hand of my shoulder. "You enjoy competition, right?"

I raised a eyebrow. "A druid would add some variety to the whole thing," I responded. "I certainly wouldn't mind."

"Well, I'm going to spend some time sleeping," Stormwing yawned even as he finished the sentence.

"Well, while you're being a lazybones, can I try too?" Skydive can bounding over like a very big and excited dog, bouncing on the balls of all four feet. "Someone needs to keep mister mage from getting to high a ego."

"Hey, it isn't like ya don't have way to much confidence sometimes," Zalleen retorted, playfully nudging Skydive in the side with the but of his staff. "I'll need to keep you off you're high ego too, mon." He narrowed his gray eyes in a smirk. "Should do the hunt in a mortal form, too, far as ah'm concerned."

Skydive arched his neck and let out a yelp of irritation. "That's no fair!"

"You could just try being cunning enough to do better than him, Zalleen," chided Lastraza, cocking her head and giving Zalleen a inquiring look. "I'm sure with magic you can do that."

"Unless he's afraid even that won't be enough," I jabbed, still smarting from earlier. I paused and looked away when Atlanta intently gazed at me.

As my oldest friend, she knew how to read my emotions very, very well. She could probably tell the reason for my remark, while to everyone else it would seem like our normal banter.

_I'm not old. Only that's only what the disrespectful bastard thinks,_ I though spitefully. The comment had hurt more than I wanted-it didn't seem a way to thank someone whom had saved your hide many times in both the past and recent history.

Zalleen responded how I thought he would, by grinning loosely and replying flippantly. "I think ah can manage, mon, and give ya a bit of competition along with your sis."

Jinir had watched all this with a bemused expression, and now he grinned widely and shook his head. "You all are gonna be interesting to have around, me think. If what I see here is anything to go by."

I spoke through bared teeth. "Yeah, some of us can be very..entertaining."

**Atlanta's POV**

I watched my friend carefully, noting the barely contained rage and underlying hurt only I knew how to see. Everyone else only saw her anger, with Imyra the only other one who seemed to feel a little of her sister's other feelings. I caught her shooting a concerned glance at Emala.

As oblivious as Zalleen, Jinir began to barrel on with his rules of conduct as he walked us through the encampment set up for the competition. With obvious pride, he gestured at the large tents, brown canvas dappled by the light that managed to make it through the jungle canopy.

"All of you get to sleep in those if you want," the pandaren hunter stated loudly, even as he was already pointing to a cleared circle with a already scorched fire pit. "Feel free to eat there, but if you're more comfortable eating separate-" here he shrugged, a grin peeling through. "I don't mind. But it would be much more lively to eat with new people. At least, that's what I've always thought!"

"Seems good ta me," Zalleen agreed with a shine in his eyes. "I think I'll do that! How about the rest of ya?"

"Sure," Skydive nudged Zalleen in a friendly fashion in the back, making him stumble a little. "I can't let you hog all the stories and comedic glory."

Zalleen laughed. Imyra and Lastraza smiled and shared knowing glances, while Stormwing raised a eye ridge. I just gazed silently at them. It was a little funny. All witty remarks tended to be. But I didn't see why it was funny enough to be so boisterous about.

Emala maintained a stormy silence, arms crossed over her chest. One finger kept wandering over the scar on her arm. She sensed my staring and met my gaze with her green eyes, a unspoken request in them.

I nodded in acknowledgment. I would wait for her to tell me.

After the silent communication, Emala turned her attention back to Jinir. "What about signups?" she asked abruptly.

Jinir let a more serious trait slip into his boisterous one when he answered the question. "All that's needed is to tell me. You already have," he said in a level, neutral tone.

Emala nodded curtly. "We start tommorow?"

"Yes."

with that settled, she turned and walked toward the woods, saying over one shoulder, "i want to go and rest a little."

"That's alright, mon! We'll be sure to fill ya in if ya miss anything!" Zalleen shouted enthusiastically. For a mage, he was quite excited about hunting.

"Fine."

as Emla passed me, I noted a few things. One: she was biting her lip, either fuming or ready to go into a minor depression. I had the feeling in was the latter. Two, she was still fingering the scar on her arm.

I stood for a bit longer, while everyone else went and followed Jinir to where his fellow pandaren were turning meat on spits. The smell seemed especially tempting to the drakes, except for one. There was only the dumped pile of supplies were Stormwing had been, and I made out his heavy and obvious footprints trailing to the river that ran beside the camp.

Yet another unusual occurrence. Stormwing was a very responsible person. It seemed something was up with him too, but I figured Lastraza would sort him out. She seemed to have a feeling for things like that concerning him...

Dismissing the thought from mind, I padded off after Emala. I made no effort to conceal the rasping of my mail robe and plate armor, or my footfalls. Emala would most likely know I was coming even if I made no noise at all, with the six sense that all hunters seemed to have.

Rogues and mages too. I wondered about that sometimes.

My prediction was right. I was about ten feet away from where Emala was sitting with her back against a tree when she spoke. One hand was laying on Pierceclaw's warm flank. He seemed subdued, likely from his master's mood. "I can hear you."

I balked momentarily, blinking. Her tone was brittle and angry. I hadn't heard that tone for a very long time-not since she and I had mended our friendship after a sabotage mission in the campaign against the Lich King. It had been after that I had joined the group.

The Lich King again. He was coming into mind a bit too much.

I covered the distance with some more firm strides, then sat down beside my old friend. There was no more room on the tree for me, so I settled for bracing my palms on the ground behind me and sticking my legs out.

The next few minutes were silent. Emala continued to stare straight ahead, her face oddly blank. I waited patiently.

She finally spoke, trying to sound hostile. The attempt was halfhearted.

"Why follow me?"

I answered bluntly. "Since you look like something's wrong."

Emala glared at me, going briefly into defensive mode. Then her shoulders slumped and she slid wearily down the tree trunk. She looked very despondent.

I didnt like that. I liked my friend confident and sharp tongued. I scooted closer to her, and wrapped one arm about Emala's shoulders. I pulled her closer into a one armed hug. I felt her shiver a little, my chill flesh and armor not providing much warmth. Even so, I had detected her becoming more relaxed.

"Do you think Zalleen meant the jab about my age?"

there it was, the blunt question that showed excactly what the problem was. We two shared a mutual language of getting to the point, and no dancing around a subject. I gave her my honest answer, of course. One that was heartfelt, even though I had no beating heart.

"No. He can just say things before he talks. No mental filter," I replied calmy, trying my best to use a comforting tone. For a emotion suppressed Death Knight, this was a challenge, but somehow I managed, judging from Emala's slight smile in response.

"Yeah," she said softly. "I guess so. Can we stay like this for a little bit?"

I nodded.

We did just as suggested, but longer. For an hour we sat there, staring into the green jungle. Two friends sharing a mutual moment that, I now realized, we had been missing for some time.

**Lastraza's POV**

I lay lazily by the hunters, listening with half a ear to what the hunters were conversing about. Zalleen seemed to be fitting in with them well enough, as was Skydive. They were both taking turns illustrating mishaps and other humorous events in our battles and daily lives.

"And just like that, Skydive was miniature," Zalleen chuckled. Skydive yelped in irritation. "Don't remind me of that!"

Even as Zalleen finished laughing, he glanced toward were Emala and later Atlanta had disappeared to. A slightly guilty look flashed through his eyes. I cocked a eye ridge at him, silently saying, _thinking of apologizing much?_

Zalleen returned to his part in the story with exceptional eagerness, avoiding eye contact with me.

I was toying with the idea of dragging Zalleen over to apologize. I dismissed the idea, then felt Imyra tap me on the shoulder.

"Stormwing still hasn't come back yet."

My lethargic mood vanished. I hadn't even thought about Stormwing's absence and now I felt guilty for assuming he was back, and had simply chosen not to make his presence known. Obviously this wasn't the case, and I wasted no time getting to my feet.

"I'll go talk to him," I said softly. "Thank you for reminding me."

I half walked, half ran toward the river, then simply ran, making no secret of my urgency.

**Atlanta's POV**

No one had asked me what I was going to do upon the morning of the next day, but that was just fine. I didn't have any clear idea yet.

Like Emala, coming here had a benefit that I had lacked over the last few years-time to wander on my own, in solitude, to quietly contemplate. After my revival by the Lich King, I had never thought I would miss being alone. But now I found I wanted just a day of just that. I was out in the jungle now, walking idly through the greens.

Only for a uneasy prickling to creep up my spine. I stopped, my runeblade out in a instant and in a battle stance. My eyes scanned the surroundings for the enemy.

There. Several green scaly forms shifted on a ridge above me. The biggest one stood to full hight, the humanoid lizard revealing yellowed teeth in a savage smile. Bloodstained armor caught the light, glinting dully, all of it a clear patchwork of looted items. I knew what it was, having already run across scavenging bands of these creatures.

The saurok roared, brandishing two shortswords. This one looked to be a giant among his kind, and his underlings more coordinated and with intelligence shining in their beady black eyes. This could be harder that anticipated at first glance.

It should have been predictable enough that I wouldn't have a peaceful stroll.

"What have we here? Lone prey for usss, boyss..."

**late update, but at least this was done on my one update per month schedule, even if it was cutting it close. Please review, it makes me happy. Not to mention more determined to make chapters.**

_**Notes about future chapters-After this there are two more chapters to go concerning the hunt and the saurok, then i'll be writing a arch about the Isle of Thunder and the Throne of Thunder raid bosses. That island has lots of possible ideas, although i'll probably be adapting some of the ingame storyline. Plus, writing about something that is current content in game will be fun :)**_


	8. Ep 3, p2-The saurok lord of Karsarang

**Dislclaimer-dont own any Warcraft property. **

_A Shocking Challenge Issued-The Saurok lord of Karsarang._

Atlanta watched the scaly foe with a cold and detached gaze, much like she was looking at a small gecko rather than a large reptilian monster. The suarok did not take kindly to that, and with a growl he hopped from his perch, raising the twin shortswords. "Insolent prey!"

"Destroy it, Rei! Destroy it!" One of the underlings screeched.

Atlanta whirled and blocked both blades with the edge of her own. The metals screeched harshly as they made contact. Atlanta was facing her opponent again almost instantly, and then her runeblade plunged forward in a deadly calculated strike. Rei hissed and sprang aside with a lightness that belied his bulk, and the Death Knight's strike barely missed. Atlanta redirected the blade and brought it about in a swift sideways wipe.

This time she had moved too fast for the scavenger. The runeblade, gaining a sickly green glow, cut Rei from the waist up to the neck. The blood only actually came after Atlanta's blade had left orbit, and the suarok leader leered, thinking he was safe.

Then the blood started to flow from the wound. Looking down, Rei paled under his reptilian hide as the skin around the wound-the tender kind covering his stomach-was starting to be stained a nasty green. A faint buzz started in Rei's head even as the pangs of pain the blood plague delivered started racing through his bloodstream.

Despite this, Rei's fortitude would not allow failure. Snarling, he lunged forward and his blades became blurs, the shortswords moving so fast they could hardly be seen. A wind kicked up, knocking Atlanta back. Bracing her hooves in the ground and maintaining her footing, she uttered the words of a spell.

The bone shield popped into existence. The holographic bones didn't last too long, but they lasted long enough for Atlanta to raise her sword and bring it down.

A blast of hail shot from the very path of her runeblade, slamming into Rei with the force of several charging kodos. The shards tore thousands of wounds open, and knocked the saurok back along the dirt. Atlanta lept forward and through the blizzard, hurtling through the last of the icy hail like a avenging spirit. Her runeblade flashed before her in a powerful arch, glowing blue.

Rei blocked with the shortswords, but the frost strike still sent a small shockwave before it, trialing icy vapor. The saurok was slammed into the ground harder, and then frost began to invade the shortswords, turning them brittle. Atlanta shattered them with a kick.

Before she could settle the fight with a killing blow, Rei's vanguard sprang into action. Whipping out chains and nets, the band jumped down at the unsuspecting tauren.

Atlanta paused and then turned. With a guttural cry, she once again created a hailstorm blast. The spell scattered the lackeys.

Then she turned back to Rei, only to find him gone.

Having learned some about saurok hierarchy, Atlanta was aware that once a saurok warlord had died, their seemingly endless hordes would stop fighting. She could see some knew saurok shapes darting through the jungle around her, from all directions, and knew that they would keep coming until she was overwhelmed.

Her eyes drifted toward the sky. Raising a hand, Bonesunder came lunging from the realm of shadow. The undead gryphon tore into the sky with a vicious caw. From the height, Atlanta surveyed the land.

She frowned. She had wandered much further than she realized, nearly to the coast. Clearly the saurok band was widespread through the jungle, and they were fully capable of hatching nefarious plans, as they had exhibited. In her cold, matter of fact analysis, the only logical conclusion to Atlanta was to fly hard and try to warn the hunters. It would take her time, maybe to much. But she had to try.

Grimly the Death Knight steered Bonesunder in the base camp's direction.

**A few hours earlier...**

Atlanta had just gone wandering off, but no one made any attempt to stop her. It was clear from the start that she hadn't been too interested in hunting, even though the Death Knight was hard to read.

Lastraza looked away from Atlanta's vanishing figure, looking back at a very enthusiastic Jinir.

"So those be the rules," he finished, a beaming smile on. "No bribin, no teaming up, no using anything but your own skills. So to summarize..."

"No cheating," Zalleen finished, twirling his staff in hand. His features lit up with a sharp toothed grin. "So my magic is allowed?"

"Long as ya are straightforward with it's use, yeah. No usin,' it for trickery, though, or I'll regret letting you in, mage boy," Jinir chuckled, a well mannered smile still in place. But his eyes said differently, clearly daring Zalleen to contradict his policy. The red haired mage nodded slowly, looking unusually serious.

"What about alchemy?" Zalleen said slowly, a eerie glint starting to shine in his gray eyes.

"Allowed, suppose," Jinir stated casually over his shoulder. He had turned to face the jungle with most of the other combatants, including the rest of Zalleen's companions. "Long as they're fer animals."

Zalleen's face momentarily fell, a black cloud practically hovering over his head. He cheered up almost instantly, though. "Guess I can take that." He sniggered and cast a sly look at Skydive. "It means I can beat mister drake over there in no time."

"Hey!" Skydive retorted. He flared his wings and puffed out his bony chest, clearly trying to look impressive. To the mage, the action only emphasized how scrawny Skydive really was. Every slender muscle and protruding bone could be seen. Being Zalleen, the troll couldn't resist saying something.

"Mon, are ya sure ya eat enough?" Zalleen said skeptically. "Ya look nothing but bones and skin. Maybe ya should be going gorging tomorrow!"

The mage burst out laughing. Skydive hissed briefly at the idea of overeating, which then turned into a throaty laugh as Zalleen dodged the drake's halfhearted swap and patted him on the flank. Imyra eyed the laughing pair, with what Zalleen could only deduce as wonder.

Emala, on the other hand, had remained fairly stony. She was talking a bit more with the mage again, but the talks were brief. Anyone who wasn't Zalleen knew what their leader was waiting for, but it seemed fairly obvious that she would probably have to go right up to Zalleen and remind him.

It wouldn't be a gentle reminder.

_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

Imyra shook her head in wonder Zalleen reached out to pat Emala on the arm and then attempted to speak to her. Emala yanked her arm roughly free and barked out a reprimand. With another sigh, Imyra shifted to her cat form and padded after the two as they separated-one heading left and the other right. Skydive went darting off straight, and after a moment of contemplation Imyra decided to simply follow him.

_It's been a while since I've hunted for sport_, she thought, racing through the underbrush. Plants whisked off her fur as she started to swerve away from Skydive's path. She heard the thud of his wings disappear, and the sounds of the rich jungle replaced them. The smells of plant life and dirt flooded Imyra's nose, the aroma relaxing her, refreshing the druid's mind like nothing else could. In touch with nature, she was part of it.

She was ready to hunt.

_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

Some distance away from the camp already, Emala only slightly thinking of the same thing, most of her thoughts bieng on another matter, as much as she tried to wrench them away. She scowled as she walked absently through the underbrush, stalking silently through the plants from both instinct and attention. The idiot mage hadn't bothered to apologize yet. Did he even realize how much the comment hurt, or did he not? Or maybe the memory of how Zalleen owed his life to her from all that time ago in Outland had just gotten away from him. Either one could be it-Zalleen was one of the most thick individuals Emala had ever met. The young troll would have been torn apart by fell hounds, if she hadn't killed them just in time.

_Mind out of the gutter,_ Emala reminded herself. Standing straighter, she crouched and began to streak her face and arms with dirt, seeking to help cover her smell. Despite the slight camouflage, most of the success here would be based on favorable wind, and Emala knew it.

She listened, ears twitching, moving tentatively forward. She would pause when hearing a rustle, then continued, Pierceclaw shuffling next to her.

The two came up on a ridge. Below was the prey-a large brown and green jungle deer. Taking out her bow and stringing it, Emala felt the wind blowing the hair back from her face. She took a deep breath. This was good. It meant her scent wouldn't carry in a undesired direction.

Ever so slightly, she raised the bow and fired. The arrow flew swift and true, a bird homing in on it's target, impaling the jungle stag in the neck.

The large beast let out a braying death cry, momentarily rearing and pawing at a invisible enemy. Then it collapsed lifelessly, lying like a very literal sack of bones on the ground. Emala rose, leaping with ease over the ridge and landing by the the stag's head. Whisking out a another arrow with a blue cloth tied on it, she stuck the marker into the creature and blew the whistle given to her.

Instantly a huge brown bird plunged from the sky. A gold band was tied around it's neck, marking the pandaren phoenix as the trained companion of the hunter in charge of the base camp, Kaura Castway. The bird reached down with dragonlike hind legs, snatching the stag up. Then it wheeled away, disappearing over the treetops. The blue ribboned arrow marked the stag as Emala's kill, and would be judged with other catches at the end of the hunt.

Now, if only Emala could find something even more impressive. She wouldn't be outdone by the wannabe hunters and especially not Jinir, who Emala knew she would have to contend with directly sooner or later.

Her eyes met Pierceclaw's. They smiled twin grins, the grins of predators fully prepared to be the shadows of death, to find their prey and end them to feel the satisfaction of a arrow hitting the mark. Or in the raptor's case, a claw tearing into a chest or neck.

This had only just begun.

Farther away, Skydive made the next kill of the day, dropping down from the sky like an enormous bird of prey. As he studied the catch and pinned a light blue ribbon in it, he smiled to himself. Zalleen thought he could beat him? No. Dragonkin were all born hunters-it was proven! The netherwing would show him.

And then maybe they could share a drink over it.

Skydive chuckled at the thought as he shifted to his blood elven mortal shape. Raising the whistle to his lips, he blew. He had shifted and vanished skyward again by the time the phoenix arrived, gold scarf rippling in the wind caused by his wings.

Skydive gleefully continued to giggle as he banked away west. He wasn't expecting to win, but he was determined to give everyone else a run for their money, Jinir and Emala in particular.

He tossed his head and laughed, performing a loop. The cool air whisked over his wings and filled his mouth, filling Stormwing with elation. This would be a fun time.

_**A few hours earlier**_

Lastraza lay next to Stormwing on the riverbank. Both were silent, Stormwing sleeping, and Lastraza pressed up against his side. She had been staring at the other drake's face ever since he had fallen asleep, a mere hour ago. She couldn't stop thinking of the cause of his distress.

His specific words being, 'I couldn't protect you.'

Stormwing had referred only to himself. Not to anyone else in the group. Protecting Lastraza, it seemed, was one of his driving motivations. He seemed to think that he himself was mainly responsible for Lastraza's well being.

Said drive hadn't come from simple friendship, however strong it could be. Lastraza suspected a deeper feeling, one she suspected she shared, if the warm feeling in her chest was anything to go by.

With a very gentle nuzzle, Lastraza slipped her own head up against Stormwing's thick neck. He shifted a little, but rather than moving farther moved closer. Following the sudden need to be close to him, Lastraza pressed her flank up against the storm drake's side and draped her wings loosely around her legs. Then she closed her eyes and let Stormwing's steady breathing and comforting presence lull her to sleep.

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Far off, Imyra slid through the bushes like a black shadow. The sun was setting, casting lenthening and dark shadows throughout the jungle. Perfect for the hunter.

The young mushan she was watching had made the fatal mistake of trailing to far behind the parent. Imyra would use that, just like the sunset. She bunched her hindquarters and then leaped forward.

Imyra crashed into the mushan's side. The calf didn't have a chance to signal distress before Imyra dug her claws into the throat and raked down. The creature kicked briefly, then lay dead.

The roar of the parent mushan drew the druid's attention. Startled, Imyra did the natural thing-she popped into bird form and soared upward, the wake from the charging beast only propelling her higher into the sky.

She was about to prepare to drive the mushan away from her kill when a sudden feeling of unease washed over her. Many of her feathers stuck up in tension as Imyra whirled and hovered, scanning the undergrowth with her hawk eyes.

No sooner had she located a glint of green scales in the duller jungle foliage when the green shape leaped into the air, the plants they had been hiding in whipping wildly in a fierce wind.

Imyra blinked and then the green thing was before her, in the air no less. It lashed out with a lightning quick blow, and Imyra jut barely avoided being cut in half. She swooped away, banking, and then finally saw what had attacked her.

The green saurok, limbs spread, began to fall back toward the ground, eyes fixated on her. The druid was about to dive and shift to incapacitate her enemy, only for the saurok to spring off a tree branch and rocket at her again.

He moved fast, but Imyra was ready this time. She shifted into cat form, and for a few moments she felt weightless as she positioned herself in midair. She met the saurok's slash with her own.

They hovered there, claws locked. Now Imyra could see the green humanoid's claws were covered by razor sharp metal sheathes.

The saurok smirked. "You face the claws of Lamprey now, shapeshifter."

Imyra snarled in return. "And you face a fighter of experience."

Lamprey laughed, and his claws rattled like bones as Imyra withdrew her own. She pulled back and threw her weight to one side when Lamprey attempted to cut her again, dodging expertly in midair. Regardless, the tips of the metal coated claws etched some thin scratches on her flanks as they both began to fall again.

Imyra twisted and slashed as they fell, as did Lamprey, but each of their blows either missed or were knocked aside.

Imyra swiped at him again. Lamprey threw his head back, taking the rest of him with it. Imyra's blow went wide, and then she was confronted with the branches of the jungle canopy. Imyra spread her paws beneath her and braced for impact.

Her paws hit the below branch with a thud. Imyra quickly dug her claws in to keep from slipping, while Lamprey made a jingling landing on a adjacent bough.

Both stayed put for a bit, steadying their breathing. Lamprey smiled a grin that had no warmth, but a cold malice, and the smile didn't reach his obsidian black eyes. To Imyra those eyes looked like they led into pools of tar that would suck her in and drown her.

She mustered up all her courage and met those eyes squarely. Lamprey hissed.

"You may yet make a decent challenge." Lamprey flexed his claws. "I hope so-I haven't had one in far too long."

Imrya grimly stared back. "Just as I hope you are a enemy I can defeat."

The two lunged at each other once again, claws flashing red in the rays of a scarlet sunset.

_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

Atlanta should have known the saurok named Rei would be back. This time, he was taking advantage of numbers. A endless tide of lesser suarok surrounded her, embroiling the Death Knight in their writhing masses. She had been fighting for a long time, and although she hadn't gotten tired, the saurok had managed to wind ropes around her.

Her initial assumption about leaders had been proven both right and wrong. Rei lay dead, what was left of his life killed off by the diseases Atlanta had imparted on him earlier. The endless tide of saurok was now being commanded by a even bigger creature, this one carrying a huge spear and glowering.

"You could be useful leverage..." the warlord hissed, with a calculated and revenge filled gaze never leaving her.

Atlanta finally saw nothing but scaled bodies and felt the tightening of rope. Then she was carried above the mob, as they set a fast pace south. Casting vile looks at the current holders of her runeblade and the warlord, Atlanta grimly prepared for whatever the lizard men had planned.

_cxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxccx_

Emala and Jinir were at a standoff.

It had been fairly obvious such a thing would happen. The hunt had simply drawn to a conclusion much faster that they had thought. Most of the other hunters seemed to have dropped out and gone back to the camp, content with what they had caught. Emala had seen no sign of any of her companions-which either meant the fools had gotten lost, or they weren't done yet.

The hunter was inclined to think the latter when it came to Imyra and even Skydive. Both had fairly easy means of finding their way back. If Zalleen had gotten lost, Emala approved of this highly. A nice long trek in the jungle would teach the brat some lessons.

"Mine."

"No."

"Mine!" Jinir said it louder this time.

"No, it's my kill!" Emala shouted, temper running short.

Then both fell silent. The hunters could both hear the approach of scores of feet. A particularity heavy thud drew their attention to the ridge to their left.

Outlined against a red sunset, a massive saurok glowered down at them. A huge spear glinted red on his back as he drew himself up to a full intimidating height.

"I am Coreng!" he bellowed. "Superior ruler of this jungle.

"And this is suppoused to intimidate us?" Emala called back boredly. At the moment, she was envisioning the far worse things she had fought than a big gecko.

The huge saurok warlord paced slowly further atop the ridge. Emala could just barely make out his face contorted with a savage and disgusted scowl, despite the deep shadow cast by the halo of red around him. Now he seemed less like a gecko, due to that the warlord emitted a aura that Emala was all too familiar with. It was the aura of someone with immense power, but whom might not use it right away, and when they did would use it for a bad and selfish cause. Which would most liekely be the desire to end the lives of Emala herself, Jinir, and anyone else who happened to come back and be embroiled in the confrontation.

"Which one of you," he rumbled, "Is responsible for the one who killed my fellow warlord?"

He received only dumbfounded stares. Coreng roared, irritated his questions weren't being answered, and then lept from the ridge. Gripping the spear with both hands, the massive weapon was plunged right into the giant mushan that Emala and Jinir had been vying over.

The massive spear plunged into the large animal with a grisly crack, the spine clearly splintering into bits.

The noise shattered the stiff silence like glass. Both Emala and Jinir started. The cheery pandaren's smile had vanished, and a angry grimace now decorated his tiger striped face. Emala just continued to stare, her narrow eyed gaze peering up at the ridge. Coreng shouted something, and a form wrapped in rope was shoved forward. When it went through who it was, Emala bared her teeth to stop a startled shout.

The bound figure was Atlanta, torso and legs bound. The ropes had blood on them, as did the Death Knight's face and her arms. She had too many cuts for Emala's comfort.

Atlanta looked down at her with what looked like inquiry. She could clearly see her old friend's enraged expression, and knew exactly what Emala was thinking. She would try to defeat Coreng, and in the process free Atlanta.

The Death Knight herself could see the logic. The lesser saurok holding her captive were cowards-they would run if the leader was beaten. And if one tried to kill Atlanta, which she suspected they would in vengeance for their leader's death, Atlanta would take care of them.

Her eyes went with a knowing look to her runeblade, held in one saurok's scaly hands. It looked to be struggling with the weapon, but Atlanta knew it had nothing to do with the weight. The saurok looked fidgety and shaky, and he even looked pale.

The aura of the runeblade would be effective in helping it's owner get it back.

Emala finally spoke. "You...DIE!"

The sunset flushed the clearing red as the two hunters stood up to the head of the saurok warlords. He roared, Pierceclaw roared back, and then Coreng charged.

Ramming one foot hard against the earth, Coreng leaped into the air and brought the spear round in a massive arch. Emala ducked, then darted under the saurok. Digging her hooves in the ground, she spun to face Coreng as he landed, releasing a spray of flaming arrows. From the other side, Jinir loaded a massive arrow into his crossbow and fired.

The arrows hit Coreng several times. Exploding in fire and ash, the projectiles blinded the saurok. He bellowed and swiped at the smoke, trying to clear it. Jinir's enormous arrow exploded in a vicious ball of red orange flames and smoke, burning the entirety of Coreng's chest and shoulder. He staggered, but snarled in pain and continued to stand. Then he brought the spear down and slammed it into the earth.

The ground heaved in rings from the point of impact. Pierceclaw was knocked off his feet and sent sprawling, and Emala just barely managed to make a shaky landing before being thrown again.

Coreng jumped and tore the spear from the ground in the process. He drew the spear back to strike, only for a blue fireball to slam into him. With a howl Coreng rammed into a tree, causing the trunk to splinter from the impact. Emala was caught by the attacker, then carried higher. Looking up, she was met with Skydive's grinning face.

"Good for you to show up," she griped.

Skydive's smile faltered as he banked, and the two watched Coreng clamber to his feet. Charred and bleeding, the saurok hefted his huge spear with eerie calm, tracking them in the sky with his eyes.

The saurok warlord bent his knees and took up a stance like he was about to charge again. Then he made a series of swift slashing gestures with the spear.

Skydive tensed, then with incredible speed swiftly rolled and dived, nearly hitting the ground. The air were he had been was suddenly filled with red lines, sizzling and imploding when they hit nothing.

Skydive flapped madly and leveled out. On unspoken signal, he let Emala fall. She landed near were Pierceclaw was crouching, snarling. A approaching shadow and the smell of burned hide alerted the hunter to Coreng's approaching form. She leaped backward as he hurtled from the sky like a arrow from her bow, planting his spear in the ground. With a frustrated roar, the saurok tore the weapon out and then swept it before him. Both Emala and Pierceclaw dodged lightning quick, and the blow went wide. Skydive swooped down in and raked his claws along the saurok's face when he was distracted. Blood poured freely, and Coreng roared even louder than before. Skydive went soaring away, then came back for another pass.

Coreng brought the spear down in a diagonal slash. A bank of red electricity trailed behind the weapon, flying at Skydive. The netherwing confidently avoided the attack, but then Coreng lashed out with more swiftness than Skydive had predicted and grabbed his tail. He shrilly roared in pain as Coreng harshly slammed him into the ground.

"Skydive!" Emala's distressed cry made Atlanta swear viciously on the ridge. She still hadn't worked out a way from her current predicament, and the Death Knight felt a rare burst of emotion in the form of anger.

A loud bellow heralded the reappearance of Jinir. Coreng blinked, then turned a baleful gaze on the pandaren hunter, whom was shamelessly banging on a shield with his shortbow.

"C'mom, crap fer brains! Come at me!"

stunned by the sudden streak of bravado, everyone else stopped in their tracks. Coreng hissed and lunged at Jinir. The hunter held up the shield, and the spear deflected off it. Jinir grunted and dug his feet in, even as Coreng drew back to try again. Before he could Jinir crouched and whipped out a round canister. Loading it into his shortbow, he fired the projectile into the sky. It soared a several feet up, then exploded and rained balls of flame down on the earth below. Distracted, Coreng started to swerve and leap, batting some out of the air to keep from being hit. Using the distraction, Jinir ran through the rain of fire, balancing the shield on his head like a oversized hat. Soon enough it was specked with flaming embers, while Jinir remained unharmed under it.

It was then that the mercenaries came out of their stupors. Emala stood and began to sprint for a soaring rock ledge close by, while Pierceclaw began to skirt the edges of the shower of fire as it sizzled out on the damp jungle ground. Skydive regained his wits and became airborne again in a instant.

Jinir drew a stout one handed sword and jumped, kicking Coreng in the snout. The saurok warlord's head was whipped to one side, and the pandaren hunter aimed a sword slice at his neck. Coreng regained his wits in time to bat the blow away, and Jinir plucked the shield from his head and dodged in one move as Coreng lashed out with a savage bite.

From her new vantage point, Emala fired another spray of arrows. Rather than aiming at Coreng, however, the arrows landed in a circle around him. The saurok stopped momentarily, clearly confused.

The arrows exploded and sent up clouds of soot and dirt in the process. Coreng stumbled and roared, and Pierceclaw did exactly what was expected of him. Not missing the chance, he bolted into the cloud. A horrible scream emitted from the warlord, and Pierceclaw's jaws could just be seen locked around his throat. A second cry came when Skydive plunged down like a hawk, digging his claws into the saurok's back and raking downward. The impact sent Coreng reeling forward.

The attacks was damaging, but it neither were killing ones, as all could see soon enough. Coreng backhanded Pierceclaw away. Pierceclaw only tumbled for a few feet before scrambling up once again, and moving just in time for Coreng's approaching spear to only cut a thin wound across his back. Before the saurok could try again, one of Skydive's fireballs hit him in the middle of his stomach. Coreng hissed and stumbled, face wrinkling up in pain.

Despite the last few blows being damaging and a success, Emala felt they were in more danger now than before-especially when Coreng became outlined with a ominous looking blue aura. She wasn't the only one to notice. The always keen eyed Skydive noticed, too, and he veered away and hovered, sniffing uneasily as the air started to take on the distinct electrical smell of ozone. A experienced flier, and having fought alongside a storm drake for some time, Skydive knew exactly what it meant.

Lightning. The thought was in Skydive's mind merely a instant before it was in his companion's. Emala took a few tentative steps back, her green eyes focused on the saurok warlord. Jinir tensed and raised the shield higher. Pierceclaw snarled. Skydive hastily landed, suddenly feeling being in a high altitude could be potentially a bad idea.

Coreng's eyes gleamed with a crazed light. The laugh he emitted sounded no more sane.

"That island was were I found real power!" he cackled. A dark haze seemed to hover over the circle of fighters, and a chill wind cut through the warm jungle air. Once again, Skydive recognized the wind as the forewarning of something worse. The wind was the vicious kind that heralded the arrival of the storm.

"The raw power of lightning...will burn you ALL TO ASHES!"

**and that's the chapter. there will be one more, might take a little while longer though. in next ch-the hunters and Skydive face Coreng, while Imyra continues to battle Lamprey. meanwhile, Zalleen in faced with his own challenge, and Lastraza and Stormwing recieve one as well.**

**if anyone can guess the island that Coreng went to, you get cyber cookie. pls review. it would be appreciated for everyone following this story to leave a word behind :)  
**


	9. Ep 3, part 3-Climax, Unexpected arival

**I don't own any part of the Warcraft franchise. **

**Duel! The victors clear.**

**Zalleen's POV**

I'll be the first to admit I hadn't practiced hunting. The most I had done was massacre dopy boars back on the Echo Isles. I'd either conjured food when traveling on my own, or after joining up with the others, I'd let them hunt.

I was kind of regretting that now. What I had taken to be simple had turned out not to be. I tried sneaking up, but the animals would run away, no matter how quiet I was. And for me, maintaining quiet is a feat of wonder. I recalled something about the wind. Wasn't it supposed to be behind me?

Yeah, that was it. The wind had been behind me each time, I was sure of it.

I found out later that had been my problem all along, and I had clearly failed hunting 101. either way, my down attitude didn't have long to fester.

"Okay, ya can do it Zalleen," I muttered to myself, standing by the river and trying to give myself a motivational pep talk. Trying being key word-even I could tell I was failing miserably, seeing as how I was still feeling no better than before.

I wasn't destined to mope in peace. A word of magic resounded from behind me, and a ring of fire erupted into existence around me. I spun in place, whipping my staff in a circle and dissipating the fire with short bursts of arcane energy.

As the ring became a smoldering circle of ash, I straightened and looked with narrowed eyes for my attacker. A cackling orange saurok met my gaze.

"Navok seeks your hide," the creature snarled. "Navok not like you."

"Why ya speakin' in third person, mon?" I called back.

He hissed, and a shower of bright arcane bolts shot from his spread hands. I slammed the but on my staff on the ground, and a shield flashed into being around me. The bolts dissipated against it. I tried to redirect the bolts at the saurok oracle, and he responded by holding out his hands. The bolts shattered into floating shards of light, then condensed and became orbs held in the palms of Navok's hands.

I was actually minorly impressed. None of the other lizards had shown quite as much versatility as this when I'd faced them before.

As if hearing my thoughts, Navok cackled and tossed the orbs my way. I jerked backward, managing to shield myself before the orbs blew up in my face. The shield kept me from taking direct damage, but I was still sent stumbling back along with clods of flying dirt.

Leaning forward and planting my feet in the ground, I slammed the bottom of my staff into the ground.

A low hum emanated from the point of impact. A ring of arcane energy exploded outward, moving with tidal speed and force. This time the saurok oracle was hit, and he tumbled head over scaly tail back into a tree. Navok climbed back to his feet fast enough to avoid the shower of ice shards I sent flying at him.

Then he vanished.

Pausing, I listened hard. When that failed, I reached out with my magic, using that as a sensory tool instead.

The residual traces were everywhere, showing up like trails of faerie lights. They were all fresh traces, but if I could trace the saurok's magic back to it's source, I would have him.

And so I did. Tracking one such trail, I located the focused and moving point of magical signature that was Navok. I spread one hand and loosed a arcane bolt at the spot.

A hissing screech marked the success of my attack. Navok retaliated quickly, sending a spray of fire outward. I sidestepped some, batted others away with my staff, and then shielded myself from the rest.

Immediately Navok was closer, throwing a bolt of pure magic at me. This time I didn't react fast enough, and the attack seared my side.

I yelped and took a few steps back. When the oracle lunged at me, hands glowing and jaws slavering, I took the easy course of action-ignoring the searing pain in my side, I whacked him in the head with the bottom of my staff.

The heavy iron shaft impacted with a thud. Navok screeched and hastily retreated, clutching the side of his head. A thin trail of blood leaked from the corner of his eye.

As for me, I gritted my teeth and resolved I would need to put up with the arcane burn. I could feel the tender skin start to bleed, but I had no choice but to ignore it.

I'd never wished more for Lastraza or even Imyra to be present.

Navok growled. I looked back at him and received my next shock of the day. The saurok was glowing, and not just figuratively. He was litteraly gleaming with the blue white aura of magic.

He dashed forward at a speed so fast I only barely managed to react. I flash teleported, appearing several yards away. Raising my staff in both hands, I shouted out a command and a rapid barrage of pyroblasts rained down.

Navok avoided the stream, only to be caught by the frostfire bolt I launched at him. He howled as he hit the ground, the ice effectively numbing one arm.

Despite the hindrance, he still rose. And apparently, nothing had changed capability wise. This became especially clear when he hissed out the words of a new spell.

The flare of light that engulfed Navok heralded the arrival of a massive explosion of arcane power. I was knocked harshly off my feet, and tumbled into the river. I still had enough momentum to hit the opposite bank hard, jolting all the breath out of my lungs.

Coughing and hacking, I scrambled to rise from the water. I managed, wound in my side stinging anew. Then I was faced with a repeat of Navok's previous move.

This time I was more prepared. I teleported right before the wave hit me, and reentered the world right above were Navok was standing. I lunged downward, flames crackling in my hands.

The saurok oracle choked as I rammed my flaming hands into his stomach. Navok was pinned to the ground, shrieking as I continued to burn him. Had he not proven so viscous, I would have maybe let him live.

As it was, he didn't seem eager to die. Before I could land a killing blow, he lashed out with a surprisingly powerful kick. He caught my shoulder with the blow, knocking me back. I felt gashes open in my skin as his claws tore through.

I dodged backward when Navok tried to nail me again. Just as he started glowing, I focused on the ground under him, imagining a geyser.

The ground cracked open, and Navok was caught directly in a surge of arcane magic. He howled as he was thrown into the air. Coming back down smoking and burned. Judging from how he was twitching, he was probably about to perish.

"You..." he rasped. "I sensed guilt." The dying saurok cackled madly. "You feel guilty for something, boy, you should too! I could have had such a future..."

With a harsh gasp, Navok's head fell back. I stood there drenched with water and blood, dazedly mulling over what he had said. Guilt.

I very much doubted it was guilt from killing Navok. I couldn't care less about his life. But I did think I knew the source.

My joke that was not a joke. Ever since the jab about her age, Emala had been keeping a few cold distance from me. Out here all alone, reminded of how much that had hurt, I had to confront what I had known but not addressed all this time. The guilt of not apologizing for it was weighing on me, bogging me down mentally even though I hadn't realized it. The frustration over hunting and the sudden attack had briefly distracted me, but now I had come to the realization I needed to apologize and mean it. Otherwise, I was no friend at all.

I set my shoulders and turned back toward the encampment. I was going back. We had learned that saurok were pack creatures. Where one was, there were many more.

I would find Emala and the rest of my friends, and help them. And when that was over, I would make amends.

To win, I would need to bring my best against the saurok swarms, to ensure we all got out of this alive. I would need to figure out new tricks.

"Let's have fun, mon," I muttered with a maniacal grin.

In the distance lighting crashed.

**Imyra's POV**

Leaping aside with all my feline grace, I barely cast a glance at the tree that had earned itself three new tattoos. Instead I lunged forward to bite. Lamprey responded by spinning aside and in the same movement lashing out with a kick. I ducked and rolled, avoiding the slashing metal claws that came instantly afterward.

The talons gouged the earth, and a bright flare of light burst from all three incisions. Then cracks spread around them, and the ground was torn up by a huge explosion of white energy.

The three waves of power knocked me head over tail. I rightened myself in a partial crouch, then spotted Lamprey hurtling at me through the light. We collided, and crashed to the ground in a rolling heap. He brought the metal claws down, and I swung a heavy bear paw. The sudden shift of shape threw Lamprey of balance as the paw of my bear form slammed into his wrist, both knocking the appendage away and cracking the bone. I swung the other paw, cutting three deep cuts in Lamprey's cheek. I had been aiming lower, but the saurok clearly had more wit than I had thought.

Next I brought up both hind legs and kicked. The saurok yowled as he was thrown off, his torso now bleeding through his leather armor. I rolled to all four feet and shifted again. While Lamprey was still dazedly trying to stand, I became a stag and barreled forward.

My horns caught Lamprey square in the chest, and I kept going, slamming him into a tree. The saurok choked as all the breath was forced from him and my horns dug new wounds. His claws flashed out and they scored long lines of crimson in my flank. With a fierce snort of pain, I tossed him high into the air.

He landed behind me. I pivoted, rearing and lashing with my front hooves. The battle rage had all but taken over now, and it wasn't just me-Lamprey's frenzied eyes gleamed with it too.

He dodged the first attempt, but not the second. My hooves cracked bone as they knocked him flat. He was up almost instantly, chest heaving and claws slashing. They cut into my shoulder, and I shifted to cat and seized his arm in my teeth. Wrenching the claws away, I managed to only suffer another three grazing wounds.

But we were getting tired. The question was whether it was me or Lamprey who would run out of strength for this bestial duel first.

_This has to end now,_ the grim thought resounded in my tired brain. My instincts obeyed.

One second I was still in the same place, the only hint of movement being the bunching of my leg muscles and sinking into a partial crouch. Lamprey was a blur as I shot at him, my paws moving so fast I could only see them as streaks of black. The next, I was behind Lamprey, claws wet with his reptile blood. I was standing on the sundered dirt when I heard a thud behind me.

Turning my head to look, I stared for a few moments. My former foe was lying limply, three neat wounds torn down his chest. It didn't take much to make the connection between the blood on my claws and the sight before me.

Cocking my head in thought, I sat down and stared at the saurok, absentmindedly shifting back to my birth form. Laying a hand on my wounds, I started to heal them. All the while I was thinking.

I had moved so fast Lamprey probably had no time to react. He might not have even been able to see me. The newly unlocked knowledge was there, in the back of my mind. And I was certain I could use it again, maybe even figure out new ways to use it. Speed had always been a primary attribute of cat form, but now I thought I knew how to use it to the fullest.

With eerie calm, I turned to look as lightning flashed above the treetops. My eyes absorbed the danging show of power, and even as the terribly deadly spectacle died away I had shifted. Soaring into the air on the now turbulent jungle breezes, I banked with two powerful flaps and folded my legs close, jutting my head forward.

Streamline posture accomplished, I rode the winds. They only to seemed to get worse, but I adapted, diving and rising alternatively. A feathered leaf, using the currents to go were I needed to go.

To my sister. To my friends.

No, that wasn't the right word by now. I was going to my family, to help make sure that we all lived to see another new horizon to brave.

**Stormwing's pov**

Wings spread, I let out a thundering bellow. Lightning burst from my maw in a thousand starbursts, and the saurok yowled and scattered as they were burned-or rather, they tried to run, only for me to swing my tail and take down many with a single blow. They lay still after that, internal organs probably crushed by broken ribs. Wasting no time I swung my spread claws, one paw after the other. My talons tore through flesh and bone, and a wave of force rolled outward, sending saurok flying. I jumped, propelling myself high and then diving into a steep glide.

I dove into another bunch of saurok cannon fodder. My wings knocked several aside, while my paws crashed into more. I both crushed them and tore the skin to ribbons, at the same time flaring my wings. The sudden show of intimidation caused the creatures to hiss and balk, though only for a few moments.

Those moments were enough. I charged forward, head lowered. Weapons clanged and I felt most glance off my hard spinal scales. One blade cut deeper, and I swiftly gutted the offender with a swing of my horns. Coming to a abrupt stop, I lashed my tail behind me, taking care of stragglers. Then I swung my head again, tearing into four of the lizard men. They fell twitching in death throes.

Raising my head and gratefully accepting the opportunity for a breather, my gaze panned abck and forth for Lastraza. I had no intention of losing track of her again.

I found her soon enough. A healing circle glowed on the ground around her feet, a few injured hunters crouching within it's perimeters. As the saurok approached, Lastraza sucked in breath and let loose a torrent of fire. The smell of flaming reptilian flesh drifted upward along with smoke as the creatures ran, panicking, only to fall writhing.

Lastraza didn't even cast them a glance. She just looked back to her current patients, then nodded in approval. With cries I could here above the clang of battle, the pandaren charged outward from her.

A boom resounded in my ear canals. One of the hunters had climbed atop a firework launcher, and was now sending off volleys of the explosives into the fray. At such close range, the projectiles did a lot more harm than I had ever thought, scattering saurok and dazing them to be killed by others. Kura Kastway, the pandaren currently firing the thing, was cackling madly as she did so. She spat something I couldn't hear over all the background noise, then fired another round. Her red feathered phoenix swooped everywhere, picking up stragglers. It had gone from hunting duties to a battle bred fiend in a instant.

The whistling of a volley of arrows approached me. I raised my tail and batted them away, the natural armor plates of scales shattering the projectiles. The next form of attack was harder to evade. A spike of white light thrust from the ground below me. Caught of guard by the manifestation of arcane, I howled as I barely avoided getting skewered. Instead the spike sliced into my side. I roared and swiped at the thing in temper.

The spike shattered when I clawed it. I blinked, a little startled. I had subconsciously surrounded my paw with a field of pure force, shattering the construct of arcane without the energy having a chance to sear me. It was like the wave of force I had made earlier, but on a smaller and more focused scale.

The mass of saurok swelled around me. Then they poured on me, using each other as leverage to jump up and land atop me. I growled, a noise that grew to a roar as I lept skyward. Making full use of my bulky form, I strained my wings to bear me steadily higher. The saurok were managing to make it harder to fly through sheer wieght that amounted to numbers, and that they kept getting in the way.

When I felt claws approaching my throat and chest, I flipped onto my back. I felt saurok fall or struggle to maintain hold as the world went upside down for them. Folding my wings in, I dropped from the thirty feet I had reached previously.

The result of the fall was a series of grotesque squishing noises that my battle hardened ears ignored, followed by cracking. The reptilian blood of the creatures smeared across my back as I thrashed, no thought in mind but to eliminate the foolish hangers on. Rolled back onto all four feet, I looked in the direction of the smell of sulfur.

I was met with a line of sauok oracles. I was contemplating frying them with lightning, and it was certain I would have done so. At least, if a cone of arcane light hadn't exploded right in their midst. A few of the oracles dropped instantly, clutching their chests. Those I suspected dead. Four others remained standing, albeit battered.

When I saw the subject of their pain, I stared. Last I had seen Zalleen, he had been somewhere in the wilderness. And now he was here, bedraggled, dripping, and with a bad looking burn in his side. It looked like the healing factor of the troll race was trying to get to work, but it hadn't gotten too far.

Zalleen's eyes were burning maniacally. He had adopted the scary personality were he was nearly emotionless, and any humor was used with lethal venom.

Slowly the mage raised a hand, almost zombie-like in the motion. Then he flicked it, and spears of ice shot from thin air, impaling in the last of the saurok spellcaster's chests. With insane sounding cackle, Zalleen whipped out a vial and threw the potion into a crowd of saurok between him and Lastraza.

The liquid exploded into a fiery ball of raging flame. The potion seemed to have a side effect as well,not all together surprising for one made by our resident mage. Saurok falling from the air were becoming salamanders, smacking to earth and scuttling off in fear.

Zalleen whirled to face me, ash having dusted his face. I could see every tooth as he grinned. Raising his staff, he fired a bolt of arcane above my head.

I took flight. A explosion rocked the ground behind me. Looking back, I saw the both awe inspiring and terrifying sight of a mana void collapsed inward, crushing saurok within. I felt no pity, but did shiver when I imagined what the targets of that wrathful power would feel like.

After I landed by him, Zalleen cocked a eyebrow at me. He brushed at his now sooty red hair. "Let's get to Lastraza, eh mon?"

"Yeah," I snarled, watching the saurok close in. I allowed the mage to climb on my back, then took off toward her, following the glint of beautiful red scales. I bathed the surrounding enemies with lightning, banked, and came down beside Lastraza.

She grinned at me, both the amber and green eye flashing energetically. "Couldn't wait to join forces, huh?"

"Not for the world."

My wounds tingled with a soothing numbing relief. I didn't hold back the sigh of enjoyment, having seen now that Lastraza's healing circle was still active. And I was very much enjoying that it was.

Zalleen was still standing beside me, blue green skin bleached close to white by the glow from his staff. He gave the impression of a specter, but thankfully broke it at least somewhat. The burn in his side had healed, leaving just grime and a tear. He was staring at the saurok corpses with a small smile quirking at his lips.

I was rolling my shoulders, preparing to head back into battle, when he cracked the first joke I had heard in some time. "These things are so stupid, ya know. I guess most of em ave either peas or rocks for brains." He twirled his staff. "Would certainly explain how they keep chargin' into traps."

A bark of laughter escaped me. "Yeah, maybe."

Lastraza chuckled. She cocked her head and looked at the now approaching saurok swarms. "We've stayed here long enough, don't you think? You've all seen the lightning?"

Thinking back, I was able to pinpoint what she meant. The unnaturally bright burst from not a span of ten minutes ago.

"Yeah, mon." Zalleen beat me to saying anything. "I got the impression we kill whateva's making that..."

"And we get ourselves a win," I supplied.

"A easy one against da rock brained ones, at least," Zalleen chuckled, trying to be light. He had mostly succeeded, since he achieved relieving some pressure. Both me and Lastraza sniggered.

"Hop on, Zalleen," I said grimly, wings spreading halfway. "We're off to bring hell."

Zalleen chuckled deeply, leaping onto my back and obtaining the proper handhold. "I like the way ya think, my friend."

We were on our way on the winds of thunder.

**Skydive's pov**

I spiraled and brushed the ground before pulling up. Quick as can be, I had flipped onto my back and released a high speed neon blue fireball. The whole move took only a second, and I was already gone, swirling upward on the stormy wind, when Coreng retaliated. A bolt of blue lightning speared my former location. The electricity spread out like oil on water after it had faded away, then was dispersed by the whipping wind.

The growing storm that had advanced upon us in the recent hour was natural, as far as I could tell. And my weather senses were typically very good. Of course, the storm combined with Coreng would probably lead to the quickly growing possibility we would all be dead within the hour.

"We're all gonna die," I said unthinkingly.

"Shut up!" Emala snapped from the ridge. By now it was peppered with black scorch marks, but she still hadn't opted for a new place. Pierceclaw was crouching beside her, burned in some spots and missing scales on one flank."We're not gonna damn die!"

"Sure we aren't," I shouted back sarcastically. I tipped sharply sideways, dropped like a rock for a few feet and then glided briefly close to earth. More lightning sizzled were I had formerly been. With a few strong flaps and a arching dive, I was soaring upward again. The roar of wind filled my ears as I gained speed. I flared my wings and stopped abruptly when another of Coreng's lightning bolts shot before me. I was hating his new power more and more.

I had pivoted in place and caught a upward current when Coreng was suddenly before me in a burst of lightning. Eyes and stripes glowing practically white and bulging with electricity, his spear came down nearly as fast as he had appeared.

Only a swift fireball saved me. Coreng missed just enough for me to catch the updraft again. I shot upward and well above his head. Looking down, I calculated I was about ninety feet in the air by now.

The warlord wasn't done with tricks. He appeared before me again, this time grabbing my foreleg. I flailed at him with my wings and free paw. Then I drew back my hind legs and kicked viciously at Coreng's face, seized by the fierce will to live.

My hind claws shredded the side of his face further, lacerating it with even more red ribbons. I nicked a eyelid and cut it, invoking a roar. The deadly grip loosened, and I folded my wings and plunged straight down like a arrow.

I had made it to forty feet when he was upon me again. Folding one wing, I spun away to the right, this time predicting his appearance. Coreng sent out another jolt of lightning, this one at such close range I feared I would be hit.

It turned out I didn't need to try to avoid it. A pine green form barreled from nowhere. Stormwing inhaled the lightning, ramming into Coreng and ramming him into the earth below. The force of the impact created a crater. Seemingly unable to hold in the absorbed lightning any longer, Stormwing exhaled it at the former owner. Coreng squealed, his movements limited. It looked like he had been forced into the earth multiple times by a unseen force, one that I suspected Stormwing had been the cause of.

The distraction didn't last long, and the way it was broken nearly caused all of our hearts to stop. Coreng lashed out with one hand and dug his claws into Stormwing's chest. He jerked violently and roared in anger and pain. Coreng was only a little bigger than him, but his attack had been well aimed.

A gush of white orange flame roared down. Lastraza had flown above, strafing the area with the flame pouring from her mouth. The fire engulfed Stormwing and Coreng. He hissed, and I nearly fell out of the sky a second time. Judging by first appearances, it looked like Lastraza had flamed her own friend.

Then Stormwing's roar rang out. He lunged through the flames. Peering closer, the wound in his chest had closed up. Coreng was the opposite-his sclaes were now marked with streaks of burned scale, crisscrossing with the glowing blue stripes that riddled his now filthy hide.

Stormwing's eyes glowed with murder. He reached out his own massive paw and gripped the saurok warlord's forearm, shoving it away from him. I saw the veins under his scales bulge as he tightened his grip tremendously.

I felt I could hear the crack even through the wind and my own wingbeats as I fought the winds to maintain my hover. Coreng spit a curse.

Looking away from the sight and at Lastraza, I saw a satisfied look in her eye. Catching my look on her, she mouthed, 'healing magic.'

So that had been what it was. Lastraza had manipulated the fire to heal Stormwing and damage the enemy. Impressed I was. Nodding at her in approval, she widely grinned back in repsonse, although the expression looked strained.

Coreng walloped Stormwing in the side of the head with his fist. His head snapped to one side, but Stormwing's blind strike in retaliation connected, tearing a gash in his upper arm.

The warlord glowed with electricity again. Stormwing jumped back as the spear was swung at him, then knocked the heavy weapon aside as Coreng tried again. The saurok glowed brighter, then was enveloped in a blinding flash. A wave of lightning roiled outward. I didn't think Stormwing had time to inhale it, or if he did it would be too much even for him.

I thought of diving in to force him out of the way. Before the thought became action, a shield of purple arcane energy appeared around Stormwing. The lightning slammed against it. The rest flowed around the shield like jagged water, crashing against the ridge were Emala and Pierceclaw perched. I noted that Jinir, the organizer of the hunt, had now joined them on their solitary ridge.

The lightning fought with the energies of the shield for a bit longer. Then it fizzled out, at the same time the arcane shield vanished. A few stray flickers of lightning licked at Stormwing's hide, but he shook it off with ease.

A smaller shimmer of purple fell of a familiar red haired troll standing some way behind Stormwing. He caught my eye and flashed a thumbs up. I jokingly rolled my eyes in response.

I felt something land on my shoulder. I started violently, craning my neck to look for it. A familiar, if battered, black hawk was there, wings half out and fluttering.

Imyra. That was all of us in one place, then. Even if Atlanta couldn't currently fight, she still counted.

Speaking of which..

Stormwing and Coreng were circling, and everyone else was tensely watching them. Using the storm winds, I skimmed over to Emala through the pattering drops of rain that were beginning to fall. Landing close, I poked my head over her shoulder and opened my mouth to speak.

"Yeah?" she said impatiently, eyes not leaving the scene below.

"It's Atlanta. Should I try to get her?"

Emala raised a eyebrow. "Now that the bastard's distracted, I'd say that's a pretty good idea. Much better than lying down and dying."

I bristled briefly at he reminder of my earlier words. I satisfied myself with giving her a sulky look before taking to the air again. Swiftly I banked and shot toward Atlanta's captors like a arrow.

Before they had even known what was happening, the saurok prepared to kill Atlanta dropped when I tore at their throats with my claws. The one holding the runeblade was knocked flat by my tail, the weapon clattering to the ground. With one swift bite I had severed the ropes binding the captive Death Knight.

Atlanta stood straight again, uncoiling her stiffened muscles like a cat. With a nod and a gesture, I had flitted back over to EmaIa. I landed beside her. All of us had lined up on the ridge now, with the exception of Stormwing-the order being Lastraza, me, Zalleen, Emala, Atlanta, Imyra. We stood proudly against the thunderclouds, reveling in being together. We generated a powerful aura, our aggressive stances and cold eyes making us look like masters of the storm raging around us.

And to me, I truly felt I was even more powerful than before. The feeling was mutual, I knew. We had accomplished incredible things together, and this would be no exception. Through blood and victory, we had forged a powerful unity. All recent quarrels were pushed aside-the only thing any of us we thinking about was the now.

Stormwing, before Coreng, was out figurehead. Stripes flashing the blue of lightning, he embodied the storm. The thunder crashed in synergy with his roar and flashing eyes, every muscle rippling under his pine green scales. Streaked with mostly enemy blood and only a little of his own, he looked almost like he had been born from lightning and spilled blood merged together in unstable fusion.

Coreng drew himself up. He let out a bellow that shook the earth, but we held firm. No one flinched.

We knew what we had to do.

The warlord sneered in the aftermath of his bellow. "You think together, you stand a chance? My power is greater than all of you!"

"Yes." Emala's voice was cold. It was like the Northrend wind, unfeeling, utterly savage, and cruel. "We do think we stand a chance."

"You be just a overgrown lizard, mon," Zalleen drawled out, tossing his staff from hand to hand. "How bout we skin ya hide and put it up as a trophy?"

"Nice one," I chuckled.

"No prob."

Coreng yowled loudly. "You will all die!"

He glowed bright blue again. The explosion of electrical power hit a barrier instantly, a massive arcane shield around all of us. I darted through it as the energy dispersed. Zalleen looked pale from strain, but with a hand gesture had turned the broken shield into shards of arcane energy. They flew around me at Coreng, piercing his skin in many places like spears. Arcs of magical energy danced across his scales, burning him. I flared my wings and kicked him in the jaw, whipping the warlord's head to one side. Then I darted away again when he surrounded himself with a shield of lightning. Stormwing charged it, but was sent ricocheting back. He expertly twisted aside when Coreng's spear came down, sendign a shower of dirt spraying up. The warlord attempted another strike, only for Atlanta to appear in the way of the weapon. Whirling in place, her runeblade to deflected the spear. A blast of hail shot from her blade afterward.

With a muffled roar Coreng conjured more lightning to melt it away. The distraction had opened a break in his shield, and explosive arrows peppered through the gaps. They hit Coreng's leg, decimating skin and muscle. A pyroblast followed it, opening the wounds and causing the casualty of the burns to skyrocket. Blood running from the seared flesh, he stumbled and fell on one knee.

Both Stormwing and Atlanta dived in. But Coreng recovered fast and knocked Stormwing aside with a vicious fist. Atlanta had a bit more luck. Engulfed in a howling cloud of icy sleet, she rammed Coreng with her shoulder and buried her glowing white runeblade in his chest. Coreng shifted so she cut his side instead, but he still screeched in pain, and blood poured out. The edges of the wound turned white, the veins pale, showing the distinctive spread of frost fever. He made to grab Atlanta and no doubt crush her, but then found arrows lodged in one hand and a furious black lion biting the other.

Imyra freed her jaws. Then she thrashed her head to one side and sank a horn into Coreng's eye. It sank deep, and the druid yanked it out. Coreng screamed and would have clobbered her with the spear.

Had I not been faster. I tucked my wings and dove in, swinging a claw. I aimed for the throat, and my claws dug in a went out with a satisfying ripping sound. Coreng gurgled, but determination still flooded him with clear adrenaline. He readjusted his grip on the spear and swung it blindly.

I was gone in a flash, riding the wings directly upward with my blood soaked paws still spread. Stormwing barreled forward to take my place. He bit down on the spear shaft. I saw his neck muscles straining as he fought to pull it from Coreng's grip. Pierceclaw made a appearance then. The raptor nimbly leaped up and lacerated the flesh of Coreng's lower arm further, biting and clawing demonically. He ripped a chunk of flesh off, eyes gleaming with savage pleasure. Then he dove in for more. Emala's arcane arrows hit the upper arm, first three, then six, then many more. Coreng screeched deafeningly. Stormwing ripped the spear from his grip.

The saurok growled again. He sparked with the energies of lightning, sending them exploding outward and throwing everyone off him. Stormwing didn't get hurt, but I was rocked even in the air. My muscles spasmed as the electric shock ran through me. I crashed awkwardly to the ground, wings and legs splayed.

Then a green circle glowed under me. The healing circle restored both my control and my hide. Reinvigorated, I jumped with joy into he storm winds, riding them like a leaf and letting the intoxicating sense of freedom fill me.

The others stood as well. Atlanta got up with menacing slowness, her runeblade glowing strongly still. Imyra lifted her head and roared, claws out to their fullest. Standing in the middle of the circle was Lastraza herself, teeth bared in a snarl. Coreng went for her, only for one of Jinir's huge crossbow bolts to fly down and his him on the left side of his face-the side with both the bloodied and blind eye, and many wounds.

Before he could gather himself, Stormwing charged forward and swung a heavy paw. His claws dug into the side of the face with the blinded eye, and the momentum slammed Coreng's head into he ground. Stormwing lunged and bit into the saurok's neck over the wounds I'd already inflicted, then lacerated the saurok's chest with his claws. It seemed like the killing blow. Instead, Coreng's shoulders heaved and to the shock of everyone he stood again. Storming half flew, half jumped away from both lightning charged fists as they came down, pulverizing the earth were the storm drake had been standing into a crater the span of several feet.

"How the hell is he still standing?" Zalleen shouted from a closer distance then I expected. I turned to see him standing beside me. Emala was there too, Pierceclaw standing protectively before her.

"Why are you-"

"Down here? Because it didn't feel right being safe up there, while everyone else was down here," Emala snapped. "Did you think we came to sightsee?" she added sarcastically.

I grunted. "I never would have dreamed that."

"You'd _be_ dreaming if that happened," Emala shot back.

Zalleen laughed. I grinned.

Massive footsteps reminded us the battle wasn't over.

I soared higher. Zalleen raised his staff and spread a hand. A dome of arcane energy appeared around Coreng.

Stormwing, Atlanta, Imyra! Maneuver thirty!" Emala barked.

All three of out friends stopped their charge, then spread out around the perimeter of the dome's outside. Storming jumped into the air and sharply banked back outside the perimeters of the arcane spell. Confused, Coreng lurched to a drunken stop and looked around, the blood loss finally getting to him. I dove and then swooped higher, till I was right above the center of the dome. We all knew our places in maneuver thirty.

Zalleen grinned, every tooth in sight. His gray eyes shone slightly red, not from reflected light but faint bloodlust. He clenched a fist. The arcane dome imploded, the inward collapse buffeting Coreng with raw magical energies. His scream was high pitched and angry, and when the magical energy dispersed he was in a half crouch in the middle of a crater.

The warlord was so still he might have been a statue. Then his body gave way, limbs crumpling. The formerly powerful saurok crumpled to the ground, breathing shallow and fading fast.

**Emala's POV**

We surrounded him in a semicircle, the beginners of his doom. Jinir had gone running back to the camp already, plainly worried about his fellow hunters, leaving us with the decimated saurok. Coreng looked up at us with eyes already misty and unfocused. "You..." he gurgled, blood trickling from nearly everywhere. The gored eye was nothing but a pool of blood. "I am nothing...compared to that realm of thunder. You will find death!"

The warlord was screeching now with what was left of his breath. "If you go to that island, you die! The Thunder King will rule all. The Thunder King..."

I looked down at him without remorse. The pathetic lizard had taken to wallowing in his own spilled blood and burns. I didn't know if it was worse for him to be arrogant of sniveling.

I decided on arrogant. That had been at least a little more tolerable.

"It was more interesting to listen to you when any form of intelligence existed in your mushed up brain." I didn't keep the scorn out of my voice. But the mention of a Thunder King intrigued me. I'd heard something about it before. Were was what I hadn't figured out just yet. I leaned closer, locking my gaze with the dying bastard's frenzied one. "If you're so confident that this Thunder King will rule all, you won't mind telling me about him?"

There wasn't too much time left for Coreng to tell me anything. We'd been merciless as ever, which was to be expected with the entire group against a single enemy. His life was flowing away in crimson streams, just as swift as the current of the jungle's river. Green was becoming bathed as red at a swift rate.

Still, the fallen warlord was able to choke out a few words. "He'll crush Towelong first. The steppes will run with blood. The Isle of Thunder will be his throne..."

Coreng convulsed one last time. His eyes glazed over and fixated on the sky, the empty black eyes reflecting the still stormy clouds.

"Towelong," Lastraza said slowly, breaking the silence that had settled thickly like dust around us in our solemn watch. "That's northwest of here, right?"

"Believe so," Zalleen muttered. He was idly rubbing at the dried blood on his side, then looking at his red stained fingers with a dazed sort of boredom.

"So," Imyra muttered, "Where does that leave us?"

Stormwing shook himself, shaking dirt from his scales. Then he looked at me. At first it escpaed my notice, but the intensity in my designated second in command's gaze got my attention easily enough. Our eyes met.

"I'm not sure," I said bluntly. "This Thunder King doesn't sound good, but it sounds a lot worse than some saurok warlord. Even one as deranged as this guy. We could be facing something neatly like Deathwing or the Lich King in terms of power..."

"You're thinking we might need help." Atlanta's gave hoarse voice to my thoughts.

"Wait, hold on. We killed this guy easy, didn't we?" Skydive snorted, tossing his head proudly. He planted a forepaw on Coreng's corpse and puffed out his finely boned chest. "We could probably handle this king of his fine."

Zalleen prodded the body with his staff and looked up as well, bright eyed and grinning widely. "He's got a point, mon."

I glared at them both. Their stupidity had infuriated me before, but this had to be the most blatant display I had seen yet. "The unknown is nothing to joke about! Until we know something of the enemy, you can't assume any damn thing!" I snapped. Both Skydive and Zalleen flinched at the ice in my tone, and Skydive sat down and wrapped his tail around his feet, looking slightly abashed. But he didn't seem all that apologetic either.

"Well spoken."

I started violently, and in less than a second had a arrow aimed point blank at the figure that had appeared behind me. I relaxed some when I laid on eyes on just who had appeared. The tall blood elf held a broadsword, wore the royal colors of the Sin'dori, and had hair bound back in a ponytail. Most recognizable was the scar over one eye, and the confident bearing of our visitor.

"Well, now," I said thoughtfully, well aware that my companions had been shocked into a stunned silence. "What would the Regent Lord Lor'Themar want with a group of mercenaries, I wonder?"

"Easy. You spoke of the Thunder King, a threat to all of us. And I aim to bring him down. The question is," the Regent Lord fixed a unwavering gaze on us. In his one visible eye was the lifetime of hardship that the former ranger had faced, from the war against the Lich King and all that had transpired at the Sunwell, and then everything between the Lich King's defeat and current times. "Will you join in the assault?"

before saying anything, I turned and raised a eyebrow inquisitively, looking at each of my friends in turn. A warm feeling of pride welled up when they all looked back at me with steel in their eyes.

"Well?"

"You know what I say," Stormwing rumbled. He licked his scales free of blood, then raised his head and gazed proudly down at me and Lor'Themar. "I'm ready to go to the next frontier. "

"New bastards ta beat up sounds like a good thing to me," Zalleen chuckled throatily. He brushed his now soaked red hair out of his eyes. "I'm all for it."

Skydive nodded and bared his teeth in a toothy grin. "Of course. You didn't think I'd say no, did you?"

I smiled slyly back at him. "Never." I looked down at Pierceclaw. "And of course you wouldn't dream of staying behind." Remembering the many wounds he had sustained, I frowned and spoke my next thought out loud. "Let's get some actual armor for you."

Pierceclaw hurred a little in response and rubbed against my hand.

"That sounds so cool," Zalleen and Skydive hissed the words out together. "What'll he look like?" Zalleen finished the sentence.

"Guess we'll all be seeing ourselves," Lastraza murmured. She dipped her head respectfully. "Don't think you can leave me behind." Her bright yellow eyes gleamed from under eye ridges slicked with rainwater.

"And me," Atlanta stated, in a matter of fact and blunt way.

I grinned at her. "I figured you'd be in a agreement. Imyra?"

My sister nodded, copper eyes bright with undisguised ache for adventure. "I'm not letting you run of without me, now. Someone needs to keep your inner fire in check."

"Ouch," I chuckled, knowing it was a jab about my temper. "That's a good one. And with that," I continued, turning back to the waiting blood elf Lord, "We are certainly going. But you'd better be prepared to provide good pay..."

**And that's the last of Karsarang. These next few chapters Im excited about, since the Isle of Thunder and ToT is some of my favorite recent content. When it comes to the raid boss fights and the starter missions, there will be twists of my own, but there may well be some actual relation between the events in the fanfic and ingame. **

_**I'd like everyone who's following this to review. You can review even without a account :)**_


	10. Ep 4, part 1-Isle of Thunder

The grim outline of the island loomed above them, skies full of blue lightning. It looked well like a bastion of doom, drawing in the entire sea under it's shadow; the jagged outlines of a fortress near the island's middle didn't seem any more welcoming.

If anything, Skydive was getting only one feeling from this place known as the Isle of Thunder.

Doom. And lots of it. He was having second and third thoughts about coming here, but knew he wouldn't have been able to leave his friends behind. If they were to die or be victorious here, Skydive would do it with them.

But maybe there was just a chance he could convince them to reconsider. Maybe. Shuffling closer to Emala, Skydive had barely opened his mouth before she retorted instinctively.

"No, we aren't turning back."

"Do you even see all that lightning?" Skydive hissed in a frantic whisper.

"Yeah. Just what do you think that has to do with anything? It's just another challenge."

Emala's offhanded tone made Skydive blink, then mutter about how crazy his friends were. It didn't change the netherwing's perspective when he beheld Stormwing standing rigid, his eyes fixed on the sky and the lightning. His humanoid guise of a orc warrior looked fearsome in the darkness cast by the perpetual storm clouds, and Skydive felt oddly vulnerable in his slimmer blood elf guise.

"Hey, think you could back me up?"

Stormwing held up a hand, commanding silence. His eyes hadn't left the sky. His gaze was intense and focused, seeming to stare at something no one else could see. Skydive snorted in annoyance, then jumped when thunder boomed above his head.

He found himself behind Lastraza, clutching her shoulders of the red drake's shapeshifted form. She cast a quizzical look over her shoulder, and Skydive hastily let go. He backed away a few paces when Stormwing's gaze settled on him.

Uncomfortable under the angry gaze of group's second in command, Skydive sought out a distraction. He found it in the form of Zalleen.

The mage slapped his friend on the back, staring at the island and letting out a low whistle. "Color me impressed. They did good at makin' this place look pretty fierce, huh? Wonder what's on there."

"Death?" Skydive guessed sarcastically. "Sadistic minions and other uncountable horros?"

"when did you become so negative?" Zalleen grumbled, crossing his arms and shooting Skydive a disgruntled look out of the corner of his eye. "Brighten up."

The real truth was that on the journey from Karsarang to the Isle of Thunder, Slydive had time to think. And when he had thought, he'd come to the realazation that there was a reason mostly everyone in the group was often on edge and rebuked rushing blindly into danger. Dying had always been a very real danger, and Skydive could remember vididly some moments were he had come close.

That and he had never considered himself brave. Skydive was the aerial dancer who used the air for cover. But in the battle against Coreng, the air hadn't helped.

Skydive cringed briefly at the memory, then looked at the sky and bit hard on his lip, clenching a fist. He'd have to learn to deal with lightning. There would be plenty of it, and he had no intention of dying yet.

Or at least, he'd be trying his best to prevent what might be ever advancing doom.

Zalleen had been watching his friend with a look of wide eyed confusion when he had suddenly stopped talking. When Skydive looked back down, Zalleen was able to pick out a glint of steel in his eye.

"The wise fighter adapts," the netherwing drake muttered, sounding like he was talking to himself. He cracked a smile. "I suppose you and I will be wrecking destruction together?"

"Count on it, mon," Zalleen whopped, the two fist bumping. Skydive felt the urge to grin creep up on him, and looking at the mage's beaming face, he couldn't resist letting the grin grow.

"Right," he said, voice still slightly shaky but growing in confidence. "Let's see how hard it will be for the island to kill us."

Imyra cast Skydive a look of dismay, but he had now started to stretch his arms above his head, breathing in and out deeply. Somehow Imyra doubted that the negative outlook on their survival would go away, and it scared her slightly. Skydive had usually carried a slight hint of sarcastic negativity, but since their last battle it seemed to have grown in strength. She wasn't sure she liked that.

"So, how are we approaching this?"

The question was delivered with Emala's usual bluntness. She and Lor'Themar had taken to standing right by the side of the ship facing the island, their silhouettes lined occasionally in blue by the flashes of lightning.

"First of all, a base of operations." If the Regent Lord noticed Emala's lack of regard to his status, he either didn't care or was hiding his annoyance well. Imyra craned her neck and crept a little closer to peek at his expression, but it was incredibly unreadable. "The ships won't do as a actual place to stage a attack and defense."

"Of course not. And by the way, if you want to listen, go ahead and do it."

Emala's sister looked at the ground in slight embarrassment. Imyra supposed trying to sneak in and listen was not a good thing to do, but in the presence of a leader she tended to be overly cautious about her actions. She had no desire to get on the bad side of important people.

"Okay," she mumbled, glancing at the blood elf faction leader. He carried himself with a aura of independence and fierce will, a combination that didn't make Imyra want to face him in combat. Lor'Themar was gazing at her with a kind of fascination.

"This will be interesting group to work with," he murmured noncommittally.

"You've no idea," Emala growled. She shot a burning look of annoyance at Zalleen and Skydive as they started to tussle, and the two instantly stopped with sheepish looks. Lastraza sighed and looked away, clearly trying to pretend she wasn't associated with the two fools beside her. Imyra snuffed out a impish laugh of amusement.

"We're probably going ashore soon. Get your acts together," Lastraza hissed, in a moment of rare temper.

"Sorry," Skydive mumbled.

"Relax," Zalleen responded. His gray eyes were bright with excitement, and he couldn't figure out why everyone else looked so annoyed. A bit of good humor was the best way to start a raid, after all.

"Right then," Stormwing spoke up for the first time in the last few minutes. "All we need is a signal."

We all looked to Lor'Themar. He raised a hand and clenched it into a fist. The Sunreaver ship lurched forward and gained speed as it charged toward shore. The weapons of the hunter, death knight and mage were instantly in hand. Imyra and all three drakes jumped off the ship's rails and shifted, banking toward shore.

Stormwing flew unaffected through the lightning filled air. He didn't flinch as a bolt crashed down beside him. He felt oddly comfortable, impervious, as though nothing could touch him. He stretched fluidly as the remains of the lightning bolt grazed him. Subconsciously he absorbed it through his pine green scales. With a burst of energy he dashed past a nervous Skydive, who then hissed in annoyance and sped up.

"Hey!" I'm the flier here!"

"I can't help that the lightning makes me stronger," Stormwing replied, in such a casual manner that he sounded like he spoke of the last meal he's had. He could tell the answer had rattled Skydive-the netherwing dropped a foot or so, giving his friend a weird look.

"Sure..."

A flash of red intantly drew Stormwing's attention. He turned his head and was granted with the sight of Lastraza. Lingering worry for her vanished. She was right here and with him. Nothing would hurt the Red on his watch.

Lastraza seemed to have noticed the tender look. Her lips tweaked into a smile, then she addressed her two fellow drakes. "We need to focus. Stormwing's got lightning resistance, but we don't. That, and-"

"We can't expect to be alone forever?" Skydive cut in. Stormwing shot him a furious glance, but Skydive didn't waste time puzzling about that-or the storm drake's other weird behavior. Stormwing had alsways been strange, far as he was concerned.

He banked to avoid a shower of thrown spears, rolling and pitching downward in a dive. Blue fire streamed from Skydive's mouth, incinerating another shower of spears and bathing the figures below in his neon fire.

He blinked through the haze, making out the figures as trolls. Their musky scent, mixed with the ashy tint of fire, wafted into his nostrils. Skydive's eyes raked the shore, and now he could see signs of troll influence everywhere.

Not just any trolls, though. Zandalari, and the other exiled tribes-Farraki, Gurubashi, Anami. Skydive had scented them all before, and had no problem recognizing them now.

Fire approached him. The flaming orbs exploded close by, and the only thing to save his hide from being burned off was catching a swift updraft and riding it higher up. The lack of scales in the netherwing biology made the danger of burning very real.

Angry now, Skydive hissed and pivoted, spotting the outlines of pterodactyl creatures flying slowly above him. The bulky beings carried more trolls. From their scent, Anami this time. And they had clearly been the fireball casters.

Riding the heat wave caused by the explosion, Skydive shot upward like a arrow. The heat felt warm on his soft underside, but not blisteringly so. He flew straight past the nose of one bulky mount. It attempted to snap at him and then follow him, but the clumsy creature couldn't keep up with a ace flier such as himself. Skydive knew it, and he would use it.

Flipping in midair, he shot straight down. In passing he lashed out with a paw, hooking the rider on his black talons and yanking him into empty air. The troll spun of into darkness. At the same moment, Skydive released a speedy fireball that hit the wing of the pterodactyl beast. It shrieked as a scorched hole appeared in the webbing, and the beast went spiraling downward. Satisfied, Skydive turned his attention to the other riders.

He had forgotten about the lightning before a bolt crashed down behind him. Yelping and hurriedly settling into a glide, Skydive took the sharp reminder to heart. He flew slightly lower, looking up at the remaining pterodactyls and ears and nose alert for lightning.

Meanwhile, the crashed pterodactyl served as a freshly unwelcoming gift for Emala and Stormwing. Lastraza was nearby, surrounded by a ring of fire with a healing circle glowing on the ground. Stormwing was in contact with it, bright green healing magic dancing on his hide, the wound he had just sustained closing up. A huge troll stood before him, drake blood dripping from a tusk. Emala was aiming a blazing arrow at the foe.

The otherworldly screech of the crashing pterodactyl beast shattered the moment. It careened out of the sky, hitting the ground between the troll and the mercenaries in a shower of rocky grit.

"Skydive! Thanks a lot!" Emala shouted sarcastically, having picked out the netherwing's actions a moment earlier.

"Sorry!"

The distant apology was lost when the pterodactyl mount scrambled to all four limbs again. Injured wing trailing smoke, it charged at Lastraza. She half jumped and half flew over it, only for the beast to snag her tail in it's jaws. With a roar of fury Stormwing moved to intervene, only to feel the arm of the massive troll lash him in the back. He slammed awkwardly to the ground, then kicked out a hind leg. Stormwing's hind claws tore a gash in the troll's side. It flinched back, shouting curses.

At the same time, Lastraza had turned on the pterodactyl. She bathed it in fire, and landed a solid blow on the head with her tail club after yanking it free. The Red drake ducked out of the way as a volley of Emala's arrows peppered the beast, the tips gleaming slickly with poison. Blood flowed from were the heavy black projectiles had sunk through thick hide, and the acrid smell of burning drifted on the island's fluctuating wind. The former mount took two staggering steps forward before falling headfirst to the ground, twitching as it's life was claimed by the poisoned arrows.

The troll didn't seem inclined to for the mercenaries to get over their shock. He raised both fists and brought them down. Stormwing reared up and grabbed both massive fists in his thick forepaws. The storm drake bared his teeth and heaved upward, his shoulders tensing under the added weight. The troll's eyes widened as he staggered slightly. Stormwing's lightning breath exploded in the foe's face, and the bestial humanoid roared as the lightning scorched his blue skin. With a acidic sounding hiss Stormwing clouted the troll under the chin with a closed paw, then launched himself at the brute and sent him slamming into the ground, claws raking gashes in his chest. Then he felt the heavy blow of a huge fist meeting his midsection. Stormwing reeled backward with a roar. Then he came down full force in response to the blow, bringing all his weight crashing down on the troll's thick neck. There was a gruesome snap, and the massive form fell limp. Stormwing whirled and struck down a row of smaller trolls with his thick tail, while Emala crouched and spun on one leg, her glaives slitting the chests and throats of a pair of Zandalari that had come to close for comfort. In one swift movement she had settled back on both hooves, armed her bow, and had sent a volley of flaming arrows into another mass of approaching warriors. The arrows exploded in plumes of smoke and fire, burning the unfortunate victims. A few took the projectiles to the heart and crumpled. Pierceclaw was a whirl of claws and teeth, having cut down many trolls already in a display of savagery. Blood coated his already red scales, and the scrappy but from fitting armor the mercenary leader had made for him.

It entered Emala's head that outlined in the thunder, standing over the corpses, Pierceclaw was truly beautiful.

"Excellent!" she called to him, making sure to convey her heartfelt pride in raising the fine contender. "Couldn't have done better myself, boy."

Pierceclaw's green eyes glowed brightly in response.

A still standing troll took a shaky step in the raptor's direction. Pierceclaw's head snapped in his direction and he hissed, showing off teeth stained bloody red. The Zandalari took one look and fled.

A savage war cry and a lion's roar drew the attention of the fighters. Emala drew a hand back like she'd been stung, recognizing the roar for what it was. Her gaze instantly flashed to were the sleek black form of her sister was hissing at a second enormous brute. She darted up the Zandalari's arm and scoured his eyes with her claws, then leaped deftly out of range.

Emala's temper flared anyway. The blow the troll berserker had nearly landed had been much too close. She had to keep the bastard from killing off her sister.

Imyra actually had help incoming at a much closer range. Emala had barely taken two strides before a howling gale of icy wind kicked up around the Zandalari. The monstrosity lurched to a halt, blinking through the mist. A confused rumble sounded in his throat as Imyra slipped away into the cover of the now dying miniature storm.

A gleam of blue light shone from within the settling ice. The light flashed forward, and the berserker let out a gravelly roar of anger as a long wound opened up from his collarbone to hip. The edges were tinged with white, the forewarning of frost fever.

The facial muscles of the troll pulled into a grimace of pain. Then Atlanta charged from the settling storm, and rammed her thick elbow into his hip joint. The berserker stumbled slightly, then stood swaying. He aimed a vengeful fist, only for Atlanta to duck under it and whirl, her runeblade flashing again. The troll's hand ran with blood, and in his moment of pain the Death Knight stuck.

Atlanta jumped, landing with both hooves forcefully on the troll's thick chest. Her weapon plunged point first into the ailing body, directly over the heart. Emala watched in satisfaction as the massive lump of flesh thudded to the ground, hopefully to become carrion.

_We're going to be bringing these bastards pain._

_Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

**short, but i've been busy. Comments wanted, i'd like to know if this was a good introduction.i hope i got somewhere close to getting Lor'Themar's character down, but since this is the first time I've written anything besided my OC's, advice about how to get actual NPC personalities down welcome.  
**


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